Ace's Second Chance
by amethystcreator
Summary: Ace survived the War of the Best so he is sent to Alabasta with Vivi. After two years the Straw Hats go to visit their Nakama but the Marines are there too. Since Akainu suspects that the Royal Family has ties with pirates Vivi is his new target.
1. Prologue

Ace's Second Chance 5

Hello readers, I watched One Piece from episode 1 to the current episode and I fell in love with ACE/VIVI, I know it's unusual but they look so cute together, especially when he saved her in Alabasta and the conversation they had in the desert. Well, I was pissed when he died so I wrote how I wanted Ace to survive. Vivi will be here too and most of my favorite characters.

The prologue is the written version of the anime with some modifications. ENJOY

By the way I love One Piece and this is just the crazy fantasy of a fan. Hope you like it.

Prologue

Marineford, the pride of the marines and the nightmare of the pirates, was crumbling under the fists of Whitebeard. As a wise man, he knew that his life was about to end so he became the distraction for the marines and put his hopes of rescuing his dear son, Portgas D. Ace, in the hands of Straw Hat Luffy. The young captain was about to reach his brother in the scaffold when a powerful enemy tried to stop him.

"I won't let you get near Fire Fist." Admiral Kizaru said, elongating the last syllable in his usual annoying speech. As soon as he was done, he shot a beam from his finger but Whitebeard intercepted him; In consequence, the high-ranked marine directed his attacks towards the emperor's torso, which was injured from a previous fight with Admiral Akainu.

Whitebeard had Luffy in high regard, partly because Ace and Shanks spoke wonders about that kid, and mainly because that kid gave the marines a hell of a hard time. Destroying Ernies Lobby was the peak of the iceberg, beating a Celestial Dragon to a bloody pulp was outrageous, but breaking in and out of Impel Down and fighting in the War of the Best was truly admirable. Plus, being the son of Monkey D. Dragon scares the crap out of anyone. "That's the will of the D." Newgate thought as he fought Borsalino, he also managed to see the whole scene of Luffy punching Vice-Admiral Garp and surprisingly holding the key to Ace's handcuffs.

"How did you manage to get that?" The admiral shot a beam and destroyed the only way to free the son of the Pirate King.

Straw Hat's efforts were crushed with the key and Fleet Admiral Sengoku looked in shock, he could not believe a 17 year old brat made it that far. However, he had the upper hand, he could kill both brothers once and for all. Without wasting time Sengoku transformed into a giant Buddha, he was ready to smash his enemies but one of the executioners happened to be an ally in disguise. "Mr. 3, use your wax to protect Ace." Luffy yelled as his body became a balloon that deflected Sengoku's attack. As the trio was falling off the scaffold, the thin man yelled that he would honor his fallen comrade by saving Ace, then he threw a small white key at Straw Hat but at the same time several cannon balls exploded in the air, getting the attention of all the combatants.

The seconds passed as an eternity until the sky was lit by a fire version of the Whitebeard pirates' Jolly Roger, then from the smoke Fire Fist Ace made his glorious comeback. "You never listen to me and always do reckless things." The 2nd division commander scolded his little brother with a smile. Soon after, the marines surrounded them and were eliminated, as expected no one could compete with Fire Fist Ace and Straw Hat Luffy. Admiral Aokiji tried to stop them with an enormous mass of ice but Ace smirked and melted it with a wall of fire.

The events developed quickly after Ace's liberation… Squardo directed a ship towards Marineford in order to block the marines and allow his allies to escape. He felt miserable for falling into Admiral Akainu's trick so he would die to make amendments. Whitebeard did not allow more sacrifices and stopped the attack "My last order has to be honored. Everyone must return safely to the New World for you will live through the new Pirate Era, and I will stay as the testimony of the Pirate Era that is about to end." He claimed as his subordinates accepted his death wish with tearful eyes.

The Emperor caused an earthquake to destroy Marineford and his sons could escape but Ace stayed behind, Luffy waited for him as his attempts to make him run failed. Father and son stared at each other, Edward Newgate asked Porgas D. Ace if he was proud to have him as a father and the young pirate said he was. Hearing those words Whitebeard knew that his dream of having a family was accomplished, so he was ready to die.

The allied pirates ran towards their ships and the marines tried to stop them at all cost. The outcome was a clear victory for the Pirates, until the vilest admiral called Whitebeard a coward, needless to say Ace turned around to glare at him "let those pirates run, it can't be helped how coward they are, since they follow the example of their captain." The enemy said.

"Take it back." Ace commanded, as he set his body on fire.

"Why would I? Whitebeard is nothing more than a fool who could not surpass Gol D. Roger and even after his death he could not become the King of the pirates. Besides, he hides himself behind his huge fleet and several commanders. He is just a coward who will die with the current pirate age." The poisonous tongue of the admiral enraged all the allied pirates and Ace did not waste time to attack him. However, the powerful magma of Akainu overwhelmed the young pirate's fire.

"Ace" Luffy cried at the sight of his brother falling on his knees. Straw Hat tried to help his brother but his body was already too damaged to move and the energy hormones supplied by Ivankov were wearing off. The 17 year old boy noticed Ace's vivre card on the ground and made a painful attempt to reach it.

The two carriers of the Will of the D were at their limit and Akainu found the opening he was looking for. "I won't allow you to have your way, as long as I can kill one of you here, the other will not be a problem." He laughed as he passed Ace and aimed his lava punch at a helpless Luffy.

"Ace!" Straw Hat yelled with sorrow. His older brother intercepted the Admiral's attack at the last second, in consequence his chest was pierced and most of his organs were burned. Akainu removed his arm from the 2nd division commander's body and smirked with malice, then his eyes opened in excitement as his victim's vivre card burned slowly.

"Luffy, forgive me. I ruined everything, all your efforts to rescue me were in vain." The 20 year old pirate coughed blood. "I just want to apologize for the trouble I cause you and my comrades, for the lives lost because of me and for not honoring their sacrifices." He started crying as Luffy stared at him in shock. "Remember when we swore to go out to the sea and live with no regrets? Well, I did everything I wanted to do. I also found the answer to the question that made me suffer for many years, you helped me find it." He smiled. "Should I have been born?" He said with nostalgia. "The answer is yes, because I had to look after you, my little brother." He laughed. "The only thing I resent is that I will not see you become the King of the Pirates, though I know you will." Ace knew his time was about to end. "Thank you for loving someone like me, who is good for nothing… with such bad blood in his veins. Up to today… Thank you."

"You said you would never die, you promised." Luffy cried. He saw Ace's body collapse before his eyes. The dead of his brother was a powerful blow that broke his spirit and the pain made him enter a comatose state to protect him from further damage.

Akainu directed a river of lava towards Luffy, but Jimbe acted as a human shield. "I won't let you touch them anymore." The former warlord stated, ignoring his burned hands.

Whitebeard saw the tragic scene and produced a devastating earthquake, which represented his fury and sorrow. The emperor then charged against the murderer of his son, but not before the Admiral attacked once more.

"Room" A familiar voice was heard and a blue sphere surrounded Ace, Luffy and Akainu. The owner of that power summoned the brothers to his side and smirked once he saw that Fire Fist's Vivre card was not destroyed yet.


	2. Luffy's Friends and the End of the War

Ace's Second Chance 8

Hey guys, thanks for everyone's reviews and for marking me as favorite author and story. Hope you like this chapter.

Luffy's Friends and the End of the War

The pirates stared in shock at the new allies. No one believed that Trafalgar Law's crew would come to the battlefield, especially since they did not have ties with Ace or Whitebeard.

"Bepo and Bart, take Straw Hat-ya and Fire Fist-ya. They require immediate attention." Law commanded. A white bear with an orange jumpsuit and a huge man wearing a blue shirt followed the order and ran to the coast with the brothers. "The rest of you, clear the way if you want those two to survive." He said and the pirates started to fight the oncoming marines.

"That brat…I like him. Do as he says." Ivankov gave a huge grin. "Croco boy, aren't you going to help?" He laughed as Crocodile rolled his eyes and started to fight.

Whitebeard reached Akainu with the intention to kill him once and for all.

"I don't want to abandon the old man, but we must take advantage of this situation and make it to your ship." Jimbei said and Law just nodded. The doctor didn't know why he was helping Luffy in the first place.

Kizaru and Aokiji were watching the whole scene from afar. "Someone should do something." The older-looking Admiral said in slow motion. Both admirals kept staring at the enemies, with no intention of doing anything. "They are heading to the sea, you should freeze it." Borsalino kept pushing Aokiji.

"Fine, I'll go." The younger-looking man said with resignation.

"I should tell the warlords to do something too." The Admiral said to himself. "Or I can just keep looking until I am really required to fight… yes I'll do that."

Aokiji passed by Whitebeard and saw Akainu fall, so he decided to rush. "This is bad… now I have to work twice as hard." He frowned but a sinister laugh prompted him to turn around. Blackbeard and his crew appeared in the scaffold. "Now this?" The admiral wanted to see the oncoming confrontation but he had to fulfill his duty, so he left.

The former Whitebeard pirate mocked Edward Newgate for being in such a decayed state and after a conversation about loyalty and the lack of it, both captains engaged in a short battle that ended with Marshal D. Teach on the ground. "I refuse to call you my son. You are a disgrace for my family and I will kill you to avenge Thatch and Ace." Whitebeard said.

"You are a monster… Attack him!" Blackbeard yelled with fear and his crew charged at Whitebeard, the cowards stab him and shot him multiple times until they ran out of bullets. "Is he dead?" He asked in a whisper to one of his subordinates.

"It's not you." The Emperor said and his enemies backed off in fear. "You are not the one who will take Gol D. Roger's place." Whitebeard used his last breath to deliver a message that shocked everyone. "Someone will find the treasure and turn the world upside down… The One Piece does exist." Soon after his final speech, the most powerful man in the world died standing.

The Heart pirates reached the coast and spotted their submarine, unfortunately for them Aokiji saw it too. "Ice Age" The Admiral attacked but was intercepted by Marco.

"Don't waste time, let's get out of here." Law scolded his crew for staring at the fight. Once they were about to enter the submarine Akainu's lava emanated from the ground. "You can't be serious, I thought the Emperor took care of him." The Surgeon of Death was annoyed. The lava path forced the Submarine to move to other spot nearby. "Follow it." Trafalgar said.

"Death Wink" The Okama Queen stopped the Admiral. "Inazuma, now" He yelled as his fellow revolutionary cut the floor to trap Akainu, though it was in vain because the enemy used his magma to melt everything around him.

"Fools" The high ranked marine successfully disabled the revolutionaries and appeared in front of Bart and Bepo. "Hand over those two, my patience is dying." Suddenly he was cut in half by a blade of sand.

"You can't do anything right." Crocodile said with his usual bored expression. He was ready to fight the Admiral, who was regenerating at a fast pace.

"I'm sorry" Bepo started to sulk.

"He's not talking to us" Law reassured his crewmate. The Heart Pirates boarded the submarine and prepare to dive but Kizaru took over Akainu's battle, so the lava user continued to pursue Luffy; and as soon as Jimbei was about to interfere something unexpected occurred.

"Stop the killing. The pirates are leaving, that means we won." A pink haired boy yelled and approached Akainu. "Please don't fight anymore, it's over." Coby faced the Admiral.

"What is the meaning of this?" Akainu was enraged. "I won't waste my time with a coward like you." He attacked the boy but 'Red-Hair' Shanks appeared out of nowhere and blocked the lava with his sword.

"Thank you brave boy, you just saved the life of my friend." The Emperor said with a smile. "I need to talk to Senguku, Admiral." He said with a threatening tone, so Akainu complied to his request and led him to the Fleet-Admiral. The marine glanced at his enemies on the submarine and Law gave him the middle finger and a mocking grin.

"We are safe." Bepo said with relief as the last Heart Pirate boarded the submarine.

"Prepare to dive, the Ice guy escaped the Phoenix and is after us." Law ordered. His crew closed the doors and set the engine to submerge. "You don't get to see two Emperors everyday... lucky me." The captain raised his shoulders. "Bart, take us out of the battlefield. I have two patients dying to get my attention." He showed an odd expression, a mixture of excitement and sadism.

Aokiji was about to use Ice Age but Boa Hancock stood before him. "I will track them down and kill them, it is my duty as a Warlord." The woman stated but she could not dissimulate the disgust she felt at the sight of men, except for Luffy.

"Why would you do that?" Kizaru was just arriving and overheard the conversation. He did not trust pirates and Sentomaru warned him about the odd behavior of the Snake Princess.

"I don't need to explain my reasons, especially to men like you." She said while extremely looking down on the admirals. "However, I am willing to tell you, just because I'm too generous." She returned to her normal pose. "Doing the job of the marines will humiliate you, that makes me happy and being in a good mood increases my beauty… and even if I fail I will be forgiven." She pushed her hair back. "Yes, because I'm beautiful."

"Yes princess, you are gorgeous." A bunch of marines and pirates reacted to the charms of Boa Hancock. Kizaru and Aokiji remained emotionless but once she left both men cursed, they had been defeated.

The Snake Princess sent her loyal Salome to track Luffy and took a marine ship to follow her. Moments later, she noticed a group of pirates on board and something swimming behind them at an incredible speed. "The marines are too stupid to see the intruders." The woman thought. "All men are useless and despicable." She narrowed her eyes. "But not my beloved Luffy, he is just the opposite." The warlord blushed and squealed as a teenage girl would while thinking of her crush.

Miles away, Trafalgar Law was preparing to operate Ace. "Penguin, keep Straw Hat-ya stable until I'm done with Fire Fist-ya." He commanded and proceeded to examine his first patient. "Severe loss of blood; irreparable damage on heart, lungs and stomach, the lava is still expanding; Part of his spine and ribcage are beyond repair." The doctor pondered for a minute. "Shachi, get me the B-7 set of organs and the skeleton of a 20 year-old man." He commanded.

"Captain Law is really cool… not everyone can do that kind of surgery." Bepo told Bart, who was busy navigating.

"He has a collection of organs?" The newest crew member asked in disbelief.

"Our captain is the best surgeon in the world, I mean he will be… He is capable of preserving internal organs and transplanting them to other person, he can replace bones and lost limbs, everything with incredible speed." The bear explained.

"He has a collection of organs and bones?" Bart was still attempting to assimilate that fact.

"If you ever lose an arm our captain will take care of it." Bepo said very proud. "And it doesn't matter if you are a Devil Fruit Eater… Law can operate Logia Types by using sea stone tools." He winked. "But don't worry, he is not affected by them because he does not touch them, only one side of the knife has the sea stone, the other side is steel." Bepo kept talking and Bart allowed other pirate to navigate the submarine so he could witness the surgery.

"He has a collection of organs, bones and body parts" the ex-captain made a statement to himself before giving up.

Bart and Bepo watched the procedure until the bear turned green. "This is going to get ugly." He warned the newest crewmate.

"Room" Bepo and Bart looked disgusted. Law connected his patient to two sources of blood, which were restricted by his devil fruit power and allowed to pass enough blood to keep Ace alive. The Doctor split Ace's torso but kept everything in place with his blue sphere. The procedure revealed a really ugly wound; incinerated masses were in the place of organs, a mixture of blood and other fluids covered the 2nd division commander, and his broken bones were exposed. The doctor cleaned the wound with strong antibiotics to prevent infections. After that, he used his powers to exchange the useless organs with the new ones and injected adrenaline to keep Ace's body functioning. Law removed his control from the two sourced of blood and started to stabilize his patient. The bones were the easy part, the doctor only replaced the missing vertebrates and connected them with a special wire, the same with the ribs. Finally, Trafalgar closed Ace's torso and sewed two blocks of muscle, fat and skin to the back and front of the patient, thus covering the holes Akainu left.

"Are you ok, Bepo?" Bart asked when his friend passed out, still talking about the surgery.

"And those special blocks will merge with Ace's body, soon he will be as good as new." The poor bear knew everything about Law's procedures but could not stand to watch them.

"I'm done, keep him alive. It's the turn of Straw Hat-ya." Law told Shachi and started to work his magic on the other patient... after his brother's surgery Luffy would not be any problem.

At the end of Luffy's procedure, Law decided to raise the submarine and rest. He still had to find a safe place to leave Straw Hat and Fire Fist, but most importantly he needed to replace the corpse he gave away to save Ace. The Death Surgeon opened the door and stopped when he asked himself why he helped Luffy, then he tossed that thought away when he saw a giant snake with pink dots wearing the cranium of some animal, and it was staring dumbly at him.

Behind the snake stood a strikingly beautiful woman with a concerned look, the fishman from before, a guy with a huge head and a cool afro, a man with an odd white and yellow outfit and several men wearing panties and make up.

"How is Luffy?" Everyone asked at the same time.


	3. The Brothers Awake

Hi again, Enjoy:

The Brothers Awake

Law stared at the odd group and sighed, after all no one but Luffy could befriend weird people and make them work together. "He is breathing." The doctor said with indifference. "I only had to clean and bandage his wounds; however, his mental state is the problem. We'll have to wait and hope he wakes up." With those words Boa Hancock turned around and started to sob.

"How is Ace-san?" Jimbei asked.

"He'll live with some luck." Law responded.

For some minutes the group remained silent, not knowing what to do next. Suddenly the doctor saw the Marine Ship next to his submarine and remembered that his patients were two of the most wanted pirates at the time. "They need a place to hide." He stated.

"We are going to Amazon Lily, no one will dare to look for them in my island. It is located in a Calm Belt and my status as a Warlord gives me special treatment." The snake princess said. "I'll call the Kuja to take us home, your submarine will never survive the rough journey." She turned around and Salome lifted her to the Marine Ship.

"Warlord, huh? Sounds interesting." Law though.

Several hours later Law spotted two giant snakes pulling a red ship, Hancock informed him that they should prepare to leave.

"Since I am sure both boys will be fine, I will return to my Kingdom. We part ways here but we will remain friends because all the things we went through sealed our fates together. Bye" Ivankov shed some tears after his emotional speech on friendship. "Doctor-boy, Luffy is lucky to have a comrade like you." He winked and the Marine ship started to move. Law only stared at him.

The snake princess led the way to her island. Law kept thinking of his reasons to help Luffy, a potential rival, but Jimbei sensed his emotional state and shared his wisdom. "Our instincts are something funny, suddenly we do unexpected things and wonder why we did them. Stop struggling, soon you'll find the answer to your dilemma." The fishman said.

"I am not Luffy's friend…" Trafalgar stared into the ocean and he was about to explain their rivalry as Supernovas but Jimbei interrupted him.

"You just called him by his name." The former warlord laughed. "I don't blame you for being cautious with all the pirates you meet but Luffy has something different… people just like him." Jimbei explained. "Crocodile was his enemy during the Alabasta incident and just a few hours ago he protected him. There is no explanation to that, I bet Crocodile feels the same as you. Young people, you'll learn someday." The Fishman walked away laughing.

The arrival to Amazon Lily took less than expected. As soon as the Snake Princess was seen on deck the Kuja clapped and cheered for her but once the men appeared the women prepared to attack.

"Put down your weapons, they are Luffy's friends." Hancock said. "They will stay with us for a certain amount of time and…" She was interrupted by an old woman,

"No men are allowed in the island, Luffy is the only exception." She said with clear authority over the Pirate Empress.

Trafalgar went inside the submarine, he did not want to get involved in that fight and he had to check on his patients. As expected, both men were recovering so he just sat on a nearby chair and observed them. "What kind of idiot risks his life like that?" Law thought but then noticed that he was smiling. "I guess I do think of you as a friend."

The room was in silence until Law grinned. "You are kidding me, what kind of human is this guy?" the surgeon of death looked at Luffy move with trouble.

"Ace, where is Ace?" The Straw Hats' captain demanded to know.

"He's right next to you. He is still in a delicate situation so don't bother him." The doctor walked towards the door.

"Thank you." Luffy gave him a huge smile.

Boa Hancock was still negotiating with the former Kuja Empress when Law appeared on deck and said something that made her really happy. "We are having a party. Kuja, prepare everything for a huge banquet and prepare my ship because the men will have their celebration there. My beloved Luffy is alive." She said and all the women cheered, seconds later they began the preparations.

"The submarine is staying next to my ship at the entrance of the island, the pirates won't set a foot on land, so I'm not breaking any tradition." Hancock said, leaving Gloriosa satisfied with the agreement.

Hancock went to visit Luffy and to give him moral support. She knew how much he loved Ace and that he would not show it but he was suffering for seeing his older brother in a vulnerable state.

"Luffy." The empress blushed deeply and Straw Hat smiled at her. "How is your brother?" She asked with the kindest of her smiles.

"He's asleep and he will be hungry when he wakes up so I'm saving my food for him." Luffy smiled and then frowned. "But he is sleeping too much."

"He loves him enough to give him his food." Boa was surprised. "Luffy is the only good man in the world, there is no doubt about that. So compassionate, strong, honorable…" The warlord got lost in her thoughts and hearts surrounded her.

"Are you ok?" Luffy asked tilting his head.

"Do not worry about me, focus on your brother." She said still squealing but when she turned around her beloved was sleeping soundly in a chair next to Ace. Hancock looked at him with kindness and admiration and decided to cover him with a blanket, then she kissed his forehead. "Sleep well." She whispered and walked out of the room.

The next morning Law was making a routine check on Ace, the doctor did not expect to see any evolution since he survived a delicate surgery not too long ago, However he was dealing with Luffy's brother, he may be up and running in half the time of a normal person. "That's just insane." He vanished that thought with a smirk. Just then Ace began to move.

Ace opened his eyes and simply stood still. He did not bother to look around, since he was assimilating everything that happened before he lost consciousness. "Luffy and the wax guy freed me, we fought the marines, Akainu showed up, he attacked Luffy and I shielded him. I died." He whispered.

"Fire Fist-ya" Law tried to get his attention.

"Where are the angels and the party? I'm in Heaven, right?" He frowned at the sight of Trafalgar.

"That idiot…" Law rolled his eyes. "I am a doctor." He said crossing his arms.

"What's a doctor doing here anyway? I'm dead, as in: I don't need you anymore." Ace glared at him.

"Is he retarded?." Law was shocked and just as he was about to explain everything to the Whitebeard pirate Luffy stormed in the room.

"Ace" Straw Hat gave his brother a huge smile.

"Luffy" Fire Fist did the same but suddenly frowned. "I'm so glad to see you but since you are here, it can only mean that you are dead too."

"What?" Luffy's eyes widened, "We are dead? This can't be, Law did his best to save us and we just died." The Straw Hats' captain was crying.

"I give up." Law exhausted his last inch of patience and left the idiot brothers alone. "You both are alive, morons." He said.

After hearing Law's statement Luffy's room was crowded. Hancock, Jimbei, Sandersonia, Marigold, Gloriosa and the other Heart Pirates arrived to see the reunion of the brothers.

"Ace, I'm so glad you are ok. I thought that Akainu killed you." Luffy cried with happiness. "Never get caught again, you hear me? You have to honor the promise you made, you can't die." Straw Hat kept sobbing.

"Act like a man and stop crying." Fire Fist scolded his brother even though he was about to burst in tears. "I can't die because I have to take care of you, crying baby." The emotive moment went on until both pirates suddenly fell asleep.

The audience was speechless, it was beyond them how could they pass out in the middle of their reunion.

"A typical D moment." Silvers Rayleigh laughed as he entered the room followed by Law.

"Oh! Rayleigh, it's nice to see you. How did you get here?" Hancock greeted the old man and her sisters and former Empress were also happy to see him. The rest of the pirates were shocked to see the first mate of Gol D. Roger.

"My wife figured Luffy would be here so I came to pay him a visit." He answered.

"A smart woman indeed." Gloriosa smiled. "How did you pass the gates?" She asked suspiciously, since they were supposed to be closed and guarded by the poisonous snakes.

"I swam below them and played a little with your pets." The man laughed.

"They better not be hurt." The Pirate Empress glared at him.

"Hi old man." Luffy woke up and went to him.

"Hey boy, i heard of your crazy actions and came to scold you." He smiled. "You need to become stronger so I will train you." He said with a serious tone.

"As simple as that?" Everyone asked in shock.

Ace woke up because of the noise and saw Luffy talking to Rayleigh. He knew about him but never met him before and he was not sure if he was ready to face people related to his father, he met Shanks once but that was a different case, wasn't it?

"Ace" The Pirate King's first mate gasped. He felt as if Gol D. Roger was in front of him; however, Luffy resembled his dead captain the most. "it's so convenient that you two are as good as new, because I will train you to use Haki properly." He said with a smirk. Luffy yelled with excitement but Ace remained emotionless.

"No offense old man, but I pass." Fire Fist glared at Rayleigh. "I don't want to owe anything to Gol D. Roger and being the pupil of his first mate is out of the question. Besides, I want you to focus on Luffy… He will become the Pirate King." Ace smiled to his little brother and gave him thumbs up.

"Fine, do as you please. My wife told me that would be your answer." Silvers said raising his arms. "Now Luffy, the New World is a dangerous place. With your current strength and the powerful enemies you will find you may last about a week or so…" He was interrupted.

"Not fair, I want a second opinion." Luffy frowned.

"Eight days, and I'm leaving out the Whitebeard and Red Hair Pirates of the enemy list because we like you." Ace poked his nose. Luffy was about to yell something but decided to stay quiet.

"I have a plan to get you and your friends stronger." The old man went on. "Two years will be enough to teach you all the forms of Haki, and during that time your crew will be training in convenient locations a friend of mine chose. At Sabaody Archipelago, Bartholomew Kuma paid me a visit and explained everything, that includes the reasons of the separation and the destinations of your friends, so don't worry about them. We just need to let them know the next time you will meet." He explained but Luffy stared blankly at him.

"The real robot-bear helped you escape from the fast turtle. You and your crew will train, become strong and reunite in two years." The Princess smiled at Luffy.

Luffy thought for a minute and linked Hancock's description to his memories. Robot-bear=Pacifista, Real robot-bear=Kuma, Fast Turtle=Kizaru, Crew=Friends, Train=meat, strong=Pirate King, two years= more meat. "I see." He smiled.

"Love is a hurricane, I understand him better than anyone." The warlord squealed when she noticed everyone's questioning stares.

"There is one more issue." Silvers said. "Since Ace is not training with us he must go to a place where he can train freely and hide at the same time." The old man struggled to find the perfect place. "It must be really big and isolated, with extreme temperatures, protected by someone we can trust and free of marines."

"I know the perfect place, leave it to me." Luffy laughed.

"Screw you all, I'm going back to my crew." Ace yelled.

"It's decided then. Luffy, Jimbei and I will execute my master plan to inform the Straw Hats about the new date of the reunion, and Ace and the Heart Pirates will go anywhere Luffy tells them." Silvers Rayleigh connected his fists.

Alabasta: A week later

Princes Vivi arrived at Rainbase and entered Crocodile's casino, or what was left of it. The lower levels were intact and the aquarium was rebuilt along with a canal to reach the nearby river.

Seven day ago she received a note from Luffy and a letter from Silvers Rayleigh, where he requested the princess to hide Portgas D. Ace for two years. The letter also mentioned that a submarine would be delivering him and that it must not be seen. The workers did everything in their power to finish every repair in time and now she was all alone waiting for one of the most wanted pirates to arrive, her captain's older brother. She still considered herself a Straw Hat and she would do anything for her friends.

"Vivi, please take care of Ace, give him lots of meat. Thank you. We miss you." The Princess read Luffy's note once more while remembering all her friends, until a yellow submarine appear in the aquarium and reached the surface.

xxxx

Thank you for your time and hope you liked it.

Notes ( some explanations so you won't kill me ):

I love Law, (can't wait to see him in the anime) sadly his role in the story will end the next chapter .

I did not rush the story, it was supposed to happen that way for Luffy and Ace's super human resistance etc…

Any mistakes, misspellings, anything wrong please let me know. I try to make my stories right but all your eyes can correct me better. Thanks

And last but not least, I think the one sided Hancock/Luffy is cute but I don't see Luffy falling in love with anyone. (I may wait until the end of the anime to see if he ever falls in love, I don't really mind who will be the girl though.)


	4. Alabasta and Mariejois

Hi readers. I tried to fix the confusion at the end, hope it is better now.

Enjoy.

Celebrations in Alabasta and Struggles in Mariejois

Vivi stood still as a tall man emerged from the submarine, he was very thin and had circles under his eyes. He set foot on a platform and looked around, he was being cautious, for years of experience as a pirate taught him to suspect everyone and never let his guard down. He descended the stairs and approached Vivi.

"You were supposed to be alone." He said noticing Igaram and King Cobra disguised as decorative plants.

"My father and guardian follow me everywhere, just pretend you don't see them or you will hurt their feelings." Vivi smiled a little embarrassed. "They want to help Luffy too, after all he saved our kingdom a while ago and we hold him in high regard." She said smiling even more.

"If that's the case…" Law raised his shoulders. "I'm Trafalgar Law, Captain and doctor of the Heart Pirates." He introduced himself.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, I am Princess Nefertari Vivi, an ally of the Straw Hat Pirates" She said blushing. "I consider myself one of them."

"Yea, that's lovely." Law said with his usual stoic expression. "So, are we staying here?" He looked around once again. The place looked like a huge apartment, several doors arranged on a semi-circle led to individual dormitories and the living room was at the center of them, the aquarium decorated the dining room and the kitchen was next to it. The whole place was decorated as a palace, it demonstrated that Alabasta was doing great economically.

"Yes, it is a rushed work but I think it serves its purpose." Vivi explained. "Please stay as much as you want and if you need anything just let me know, this is my snail-phone number." She gave him a piece of paper.

"Thanks." Trafalgar said. "Guys, you can come out." He yelled to his crew, and soon several men with puffy jumpsuits and hats that obscured their faces came out. They all looked pretty much the same, the exceptions were a huge men with a blue shirt and a scary face, a guy with a penguin hat and a polar bear with an orange outfit. "They are my crew, and that one is Fire Fist Ace." He said pointing at the last guy who left the submarine.

"We've met before." Vivi said, remembering their journey in the desert and their small conversation at the bonfire.

"He may not remember." Law looked at Ace. "Something went wrong during his surgery so his memory fails from time to time, in other words he is really confused." The doctor's tone was too serious. "If he tells you something just follow the lie, if not you may cause a great shock on him and his nervous system will collapse." Law stopped talking before Ace arrived so he wouldn't hear him.

"Ace, it is so nice to see you again." Vivi greeted him and could not help to notice how attractive he was, after all she was a 16 year old girl. Ace was tall, really muscular, and very handsome, plus his cool attitude only increased his sex appeal. However, she spotted a huge scar on his abdomen and her attention focused on his health. "It seems painful." She thought and looked at him with sadness.

"It feels good to be home." He said with a smile. "I really missed the desert." He shocked Vivi by how confused he was. "But you are the person I missed the most, my dear." He leaned forward but the princess backed off with wide eyes. Suddenly Igaram and King Cobra yelled the pirate to stay away from the girl.

"It's ok dad and Igaram. I will handle this situation." The blue haired girl took a deep breath, she was not going to play along with that lie but she could not deny it and damage Ace's brain, since she promised her captain she would take care of his brother. "I know what to do, this is fool proof." She thought and pretended to faint.

"Vivi." Ace yelled and caught her. "Is she going to be ok? I didn't think she would take it that hard." He frowned really worried.

"It was your idea to prank the princess." Law raised his shoulders.

Vivi heard him and kicked Ace in his family jewels so he let her go. "It was not funny." She yelled. "Stop chuckling." She told Law.

"Sorry." both pirates said at unison.

"Apology accepted." Vivi smiled and started to walk towards the kitchen. "I forgot to tell you, the casino above the secret base is being rebuilt, and the party to celebrate your arrival starts once Pell and Chaka get here with the food and drinks." She winked and opened a door for two man carrying huge baskets. "That would be right now." She smiled as the pirates cheered.

"I must go back to Alubarna." King Cobra said and walk towards the door. "I want you at least one ocean away from my daughter." He glared at Ace as flames came out of his head, so the young pirate dropped a sweat.

The party went on for a while, the heart pirates were really enjoying themselves. They were celebrating their escaped from the three Admirals, that Luffy and Ace were alive and that they would enter the new world in a matter of time. Vivi saw how merry they were and she started to think of her days with the Straw Hats, the adventures they had, the places they visited, the huge banquet in the palace and their silent farewell. She wondered what happened at Marineford, she knew Luffy fought but the newspapers did not mention the rest of the crew, something horrible must have happened if they did not go to the battle with their captain. So many doubts invaded Vivi's head but her thoughts were interrupted by Luffy's older brother.

"Hey Princess, why aren't you in the party?" Ace smiled as he sat next to her.

"I was just thinking… Mr. Silvers did not mention them in his letter." She sighed, not paying much attention to him. "The Straw Hats would never let Luffy fight alone, so I wonder if they are…" She suppressed a sob and Ace lifted her chin with his fingers.

"I heard the crew was separated at Sabaody Archipelago, but they are ok. They will meet again in two years and head to the New World. They must get stronger or they won't make it." Ace explained trying to cheer Vivi up but the Princess felt that the pirate was getting closer, it could be her paranoia but she decided to follow her instincts.

"The other half of the Grand Line, huh?" She sighed and broke eye contact.

"Do you regret staying here?" Fire Fist asked staring at his glass of beer.

"I love my country and I will always look after it, but sometimes I wonder what kind of adventures I would have had with my friends, if I would have a bounty like everyone, if I would be strong enough to keep up with them." A tear escaped her. "But I don't regret my choice, Alabasta needed me and one day I will see my friends again." She said with resolve.

"They did some pretty crazy stuff." The Whitebeard Pirate smirked and told her every single story of the Straw Hats; Being the only pirates with a dream in Jaya, reaching Skypiea and overthrowing God Enel, losing and winning crew members in a Davy Back Fight, defeating the CP9, declaring war on the World Government and surviving the Buster Call, getting lost in the Florian Triangle and beating up Gekko Moriah, the tragic separation in Sabaody Archipelago, the adventure in Amazon Lily, Breaking in and out of Impel Down, the Pirates' version of the War of the Best, and everything that happened afterwards.

"They are truly amazing." Vivi was really excited, everything she read in the newspapers was a lie or the marines' attempt to cover up the events.

"Luffy told me everything back in Amazon Lily." Ace winked. "What time is it, by the way?" He scratched his head in confusion by the lack of noise.

"It's almost 3:00 am" Law said, he was listening to the whole story along with Chaka and Pell.

"I must go… I forgot to tell you that Pirates have been attacking the coast, so I have to meet the defense squadron and give a speech to encourage them and pray for their safety. Bye, I'll see you tonight. " The princess smiled and left the secret base with the Guardians of Alabasta.

"It would be a shame if we let the soldiers do all the work, don't you think?" Ace smirked at Law, who returned the gesture.

Meanwhile, Mariejois was a complete chaos and Commander-in-Chief Kong had to fix everything. Fleet Admiral Sengoku and the War Hero Garp resigned from the Marines; Luffy's grandfather developed a grudge against the agressor of Ace and Sengoku was disgusted with the new methods of the World Government. Admiral Akainu was willing to take the charge of Fleet Admiral, but Admiral Aokiji surprised everyone when he requested the title, so the only way to decide who would be Sengoku's successor was a battle. The warlords were an important issue too. Jimbei decided to support the enemy, Blackbeard made a fool of the World Government, and Gekko Moriah was simply useless. The others did not represent a problem, several marines saw Boa Hancock fulfill her role properly, Don Quixote Doflamingo killed pirates as he was requested, Bartholomew Kuma is under complete control of the Marines and Dracule Mihawk honored his agreement until the Emperor Shanks arrived. Kong needed to find three powerful pirates to maintain balance. Despite all that, the most prompting issue was the fall of Whitebeard and what would happen to his territories. The marines also needed to find and dispose of Straw Hat Luffy and Fire Fist Ace.

"This is not going anywhere." Kong yelled in frustration. All the paperwork invading his desk was endless. Suddenly his Snail-phone rang. "I want to hear good news Akainu." He yelled.

"We've capture Jewelry Boney." The admiral said.

"That's what I'm talking about, get that troublesome brat over here and make sure she can't escape again. One more thing, head to Punk Hazard immediately, I need a Fleet Admiral by the end of the month." Kong was a little relieved but he had more issues to worry. "Commander Smoker and sergeant Tashigi are to be transferred to the G-5." He signed the document to approve it. "What's next?" He scanned through the papers and saw a request of Akainu to put vigilance on every island related to the Straw Hats and spy on every person suspected of aiding them. "Sakazuki, letting yourself be guided by gossip. What a shame." He shook his head and denied the petition. "I must keep moving."

"Commander-In-Chief… Can I go now?" Kuzan yawned. He had been in the office the whole time and he wanted to start the duel as soon as possible. He was not going to let Akainu take control of the Marines.

"Fight like a men." Kong seemed troubled, he liked both Admirals but he understood that only one could survive and claim Sengoku's position.

"All right, I'm off." Kuzan said and left Kong's office.

"Admiral." Smoker was waiting for him. "Did you read my report on Boa Hancock?" The commander made a request to search for the Straw Hat Pirates in Amazon Lily, based on his fight with the Pirate Empress and her confession of loving Monkey D. Luffy.

"I froze it by accident." Kuzan yawned much to Smoker's dismay.

"You did the same to my report on Princess Nefertari Vivi." The commander sighed. "What is it now?" He asked knowing the Admiral had a perfect excuse, as always. The Alabasta file was destroyed to avoid compromising the Royal Family and because Luffy defeated Crocodile and Zoro saved Smoker from drowning.

"It's because the Snake Princess is beautiful." Aokiji said the first thing on his mind and kept walking. In reality he did not prepare an excuse for ignoring Smoker's report but he had a reason to keep Straw Hat off the hook.

"Don't give me that. What is your true motive?" Smoker was losing his patience. "I will fully support you but I need to know your reasons to protect Straw Hat. You read my report, so you know he is in Amazon Lily."

"Fine, I'll tell you… I'm protecting Luffy because he is my back up plan to kill Akainu. If I die in the duel at Punk Hazard that dammed Sakazuki will become Fleet Admiral, and he is a dangerous man. He will destroy islands and kill innocent people in order to arrest and dispose of pirates." Kuzan explained. "If that happens, Monkey D, Luffy will be the only pirate crazy enough to face him." Aokiji whispered and left Smoker in shock.

To be continued


	5. Gossip

Hi lectors, if you find a mistake or you are confused by something let me know, I try to fix the story as soon as I can.

vivi is on of my favorite characters, and I'm sure (i hope) she will play an important role when the manga reaches the reverie. Can't wait.

Since I like Garp, Bonney, Law and more i'll add them in the next chapter.

Enjoy

Gossip

Since the beginning of the New Pirate Era the islands all over the world were under constant invasions, and Alabasta was not an exemption. The sand was tainted with blood, the desert became the graveyard of brave soldiers and mischievous pirates, and the wind smelled of rotting corpses.

The coastal city of Nanohana was the Kingdom's center of attention, the civilians were preoccupied by the endless pirates' attacks but they trusted Alabasta's military force. Chaka and Pell were the most skilled warriors. The former rebel, Kohza, developed defense strategies with the help of Igaram, the commander of the Royal Army. The Elite Guards kept the pirates away from the city and the soldiers fought courageously the enemies at the coast. Princess Nefertari Vivi was a symbol of inspiration for everyone, not only for her speeches before the battles but for her involvement in the battlefield; she was next to the soldiers fighting pirates with her signature weapon, the peacock slashers. And last but not least, the newest addition to the Royal Army was a powerful man who was capable of defeating several pirates with the least effort. That warrior was known for wearing a golden mask and for being with the Princess at all times.

"This is endless." Vivi panted as three pirates fell to her feet.

"Rest, you've been here for hours." The masked man scolded her after beating twelve enemies. "You are stronger than the last time I saw you but don't overdo it."

"Fine, let's go." The girl sighed in defeat and started to walk towards her tent, located behind the Elite Guards' line of defense. "I like your mask, but somehow I don't think it was your idea." She laughed.

"It was Law's doing." He smirked. "Thirteen days ago, right after you left the party, I was ready to jump into action but Law put on a black gown to obscure his face and made me wear a golden mask." The pirate chuckled.

"And now you are a mysterious man who came from the New World, swore loyalty to King Cobra and is secretly trying to kill me." She added some gossips she heard. "It was really convenient." She looked at him. "Having Fire Fist Ace fighting for Alabasta could put the Kingdom in a really difficult position with the World Government and we would not be able to protect you anymore." She said with a serious tone.

"I understand your situation." Ace sighed. "Gol D. Roger had the same effect on the people close to him." He thought.

"If the marines find out you are here, they won't stop until they kill you." The princess' voice started to break. "And I can't take that." She whispered. "How would I tell Luffy I lost you?"

"I won't die." He laughed and stopped when they reached the tent. "After you, princess." He opened the entrance to let Vivi pass.

Once they were inside the tent, the girl's nose started to bleed due to overexerting herself, so she pressed a piece of cloth to her face and looked up.

"That's odd, I still have my clothes on." Ace laughed as he removed his mask.

"That comment was beyond inappropriate." She scolded him.

"Sorry, I had to make that joke." He excused himself.

"I'm getting tired of your jokes." She rolled her eyes.

"Let's change the topic then." He smiled nervously, he did not want to make Vivi mad. "I'm not getting stronger by fighting small fries." Ace sat next to the Princess and started to complain.

"I can help you with that, pirate." Ace recognized the owner of the voice.

"Damn, how did they find out?" He thought and immediately put his left arm around Vivi's neck. "Act as my hostage, that way you'll be off the hook." He whispered in the girl's ear. Vivi removed the cloth off her face and blushed by the sudden physical contact.

Aokiji entered the tent with difficulty, due to his height, and sat in front of the pirate. He stared at the scene and looked questioningly at the duo, Vivi looked confused and Ace's glare revealed his deep hate towards the marines. "I work for the Princess." He said trying to calm him down.

"I forgot to tell you, Kuzan is my new bodyguard." The princess gave everyone an apologetic look. "Kuzan resigned from the marines three days ago so I hired him to protect me." She raised her index finger. "But our real agreement is that he will teach you the three forms of Haki."

"Say those things sooner." Ace slapped his forehead but Vivi simply smiled. "How do you know about Haki, anyway?" He asked.

"Mr. Silvers mentioned it in his letter." She smiled. "Please, let go off me." Vivi noticed Ace's arm still around her.

"Sorry." Ace got away from the girl. "Just how many things did he mention?"

"It was a long letter." She dropped a sweat and Aokiji cleared his throat loudly.

"We start the lesson right now." Kuzan said and Ace stared at him expectantly. After a long pause, the former Admiral started to explain the basic principles of Haki.

Outside the Princess' tent Pell and Kohza were commenting on Cobra's actions. The King was dealing with the country's needs; he was doing everything in his hands to help the cities recover from the civil war, create enough wealth to sustain the kingdom and pay the tribute to the Celestial Dragons. Doubtlessly, the King's job was the hardest job. Suddenly, Pell stopped the conversation to hear two soldiers talking nearby.

"I wonder who Golden Mask is and why did Black Gown left." A man with long black hair and brown eyes whispered.

"What do you mean?" A new recruit got closer.

"Too bad, you weren't here at that time." The first soldier shook his head. "I'll tell you. Thirteen days ago, Golden Mask and Black Gown arrived. Those men killed many pirates and requested an audience with the Princess in the middle of the battle. She was shocked when she saw them but once the mysterious men talked to her, they did not leave her side until yesterday." The black haired soldier explained.

"What happened?" The new guy was really into the story.

"Black Gown left." The brown eyed soldier crossed his arms. "Don't tell anyone, but I heard that they came from the New World. Rumors say that Golden Mask will pose as a hero and then he will try to conquer Alabasta, just like Crocodile. The gossips in the city say that Golden Mask is courting the Princess but others say that he will kill her. A really incredible rumor is that Golden Mask is a prince in disguise, but his kingdom was destroyed by pirates."

"But I heard from a reliable source that the Princess is hypnotized by Golden Mask because suddenly she only has eyes for him, even Kohza was pushed aside." Other soldier, an old looking man, joined the discussion.

"So far the most popular gossip is that he is waiting to get a noble title from King Cobra, that's why he is doing everything to gain Princess Vivi's favor." The black haired soldier kept telling everything he knew.

Pell and Kohza stopped listening to their conversation since they knew those gossips surrounding Ace's new identity. "He's been in the New World… we can give them credit for discovering that." Kohza said and Pell agreed.

"It's also true that Princess Vivi is hypnotized by his stories." Pell pointed out. "She idolizes him." The Zoan type said. "Every word he says makes the Princess stare at him as if he were a God, and I'm afraid he'll awake the love for adventure she's been burring since the Straw Hats left." He added.

"That would only make Vivi suffer. She will long to live like a pirate but she won't abandon the kingdom." Kohza said. "By the way, she hates his jokes." The former rebel suddenly remembered something the blue haired girl disliked of Golden Mask.

"Shame on you, gossiping like everyone else..." Chaka shook his head.

At night Vivi guided kuzan and Ace to the perfect place to train, a remote part of the desert. As they walked the Princess recalled her journey with the Straw Hats, she treasured every moment and suddenly she saw Ace from the corner of her eye. She remembered him too, he was the one who stopped the marines and disposed of a Baroque Works' fleet. He looked like the most powerful man in the world.

"The journey ends here." Vivi turned to face the Devil Fruit Eaters "I chose this place because no one will be able to see your training since the rocks are too tall." She was proud of her efficiency. "Kuzan, should I stay?" She asked.

"Sure, if you don't freeze to death, we may be here all night." Kuzan said.

Ace took off his gown and gave it to the princess and then he made a small bonfire. "There, now you can watch." He grinned as Vivi removed his mask and smiled back, but Kuzan cleared his throat loudly to call Ace and start the match. The girl saw the pirate's back and noticed that Whitebeard's symbol, his pride, was destroyed. She felt sad for him.

Vivi stared at the flames and her mind drifted to the night she had a conversation with Ace. Back then she thought Ace would be disappointed of Luffy because the Straw Hats did not seem to respect him as a Captain, so she decided to explain Luffy's special bond with the crew, but Ace already knew that and thanked her for worrying about his little brother. Once the talk was over Ace nodded and Vivi stared at the Sky. "I wanted to keep talking but I could not find another topic." The princess thought as her eyelids became heavier. The next memory took Vivi to a sand storm, that natural phenomenon buried her friends and she felt useless for not being able to do anything to help them, she did not even warn them in time. Suddenly Ace rushed to her side and something different occurred, she stared at him and felt the urge to kiss him so she leaned forward. "That did not happen." Vivi yelled after waking up really altered. "It was a dream, he just helped me to stand up." She said to herself and giggled because of her crazy imagination.

"How do you plan on defeating Akainu if you can't even fight me properly?" Kuzan asked lazily. "You depend too much on your Logia abilities and that is the reason you fell before Blackbeard." The former marine punched Ace with a fist surrounded by ice and sent him flying near Vivi. The pirate made an attempt to stand up but his body was too damaged. "You are overconfident and underestimate your enemies." Kuzan walked next to him and formed an ice sword. "But I will teach you everything I know." He buried the sword in the sand next to Ace's head.

"Ace!" The princess was horrified, she could not believe Fire Fist was defeated so she rushed to his side. "Ace, answer me." She called in vain because the pirate was losing consciousness. The girl slapped his check softly and felt tears building up. She knew Blackbeard defeated him and that Akainu almost killed him, but she was not ready to see him fall.

"He'll be fine." Kuzan yawned. "Let's head to Nanohana and rest, it's almost morning." He said and carried Ace over his shoulder.

"Wait." Vivi stopped her bodyguard and rushed to cover Ace's face with the mask and his back with the gown.

"If you can't stand to see him suffer don't come to the training grounds." Kuzan advised when he noticed the Princess' watery eyes. "I'll teach him all I can in two years." He said much to Vivi's dismay. "He told me that he and his brother will enter the New World to take down Blackbeard and Akainu." The former admiral explained.

"I see." The blue haired girl kept her gaze low. "I want to go to the New World." Vivi tried to smile but failed miserably.

"You can visit the New World anytime, since you can afford the fee at Mariejois and you are not a criminal." Kuzan reminded her. He knew the princess did not want that answer but he was not going to encourage the path of piracy. "And speaking of Mariejois, your priority must be the oncoming World Summit."

"I know, thank you." She stared at the sky and decided to remain silent for the rest of the journey. "Kuzan is right, the next Reverie is in two years and Alabasta's interests are first." She thought.

At Mariejois, Akainu spent a long time explaining his projects to the Gorosei, those men had too much power and having them in a good mood could mean the materialization of his ideas. After Sakazuki explained his plan of action against pirates and the surveillance system to prevent civilians from helping criminals, he decided to ask for a personal favor.

"As Fleet Admiral I do not dispose of enough power to establish a base in Alabasta, therefore I request your approval to do so." Akainu said convinced that he would get his way.

"A marine base is a complicated political issue… Allow me to use Alabasta as an example." The oldest looking men explained. "The World Government can put a base in Alubarna if King Cobra requests the Marine's protection. However, if the Marines put a base and the King did not request protection it is considered a serious offence, since he can feel like the World Government is suspicious of him." The man smirked at Akainu as if he were an ignorant child. "The reason for nor disturbing the Kingdom of Alabasta is that it has the favor of the World Nobles because of its high profits. We will not compromise the reputation of the Royal Family, and their tributes to the Celestial Dragons, by openly questioning their loyalty." He said with the intention of ending the discussion for good.

"If I present proof that Princess Nefertari Vivi is collaborating with pirates, would you support me?" Sakazuki was not going to give up on his, so far, only lead to Straw Hat Luffy. The Fleet Admiral would never admit it, but not being able to kill the D. brothers was a huge blow to his ego and the only way to recover from his defeat was finishing what he started.

"Indeed, we will grant you the authority to build the base." The old man almost laughed at Akainu's last argument. "However, if you make a mistake while gathering evidence and you offend the Royal Family, they will not forgive that humiliation, and your position will be jeopardized."

"Understood." The fleet Admiral bowed to his superiors and left. "Idiots, they believe that I'm following rumors." He thought. Not long ago, Akainu found two marines who witnessed Vivi viding farewell to the Straw Hats, but the story was disregarded by the higher officers due to lack of evidence. "I'll show everyone that Alabasta is involved with the Straw Hats and I will kill Monkey D. Luffy and Portgas D. Ace."

To Be Continued

Thanks for reading.

Ok I watched again the episodes where Ace and Vivi interact, and I could not help to squeak at certain moments (You guys can see it other way but for me they were Vivi/Ace moments):

When Vivi and Nami comment on how polite and strong Ace is, while looking at him eating.

When Vivi asks Luffy where Ace is.

One I really like, the conversation at the bonfire was too cute, he was so smiley.

And my favorite is when the sand storm buries all the crew and Ace goes straight to help Vivi.

Awww that was just too cute. Anyway, hope you liked this chapter.


	6. A Taste of the New Era

Ace's Second Chance 9

A Taste of the New Era

The night fell in Alabasta and Ace was with Vivi in a building at Nanohana, while the Princess did paperwork the pirate waited for his sensei, but he was getting impatient. "What kind of bodyguard leaves alone the person he is supposed to protect?" He thought when he saw the princess reviewing some documents. Then he stared at Vivi's face, the girl had the habit to bite her lower lip when she was nervous and he found that adorable.

"I forgot to tell you but Kuzan has the night out." Vivi said without taking her eyes away from her work, looking at Ace would be too distracting, especially since he was shirtless. "He met a girl this morning so he is on a date." She explained.

"Say those things sooner." He frowned. "The training just started last night, I can't believe he's already postponing it."

"You must rest, go back to sleep." She said in a sweet tone but did not look at Ace, which reminded the pirate of the girl's odd behavior towards him.

Ever since Ace woke up, Vivi could not look at him for more than three seconds, she changed his bandages and gave him his favorite food but she was keeping her distance. In fact, the girl didn't talk to him unless it was necessary.

"Is something bothering you?" The man frowned. He did not care to be despised but he did not want Vivi to hate him. As Ace perceived the situation, the princess knew he was a problem and accepted to hide him but after fourteen days she realized he was much more trouble than she could handle.

"Not at all, why?" Vivi froze. She was used to Ace being cheerful but his sudden cold demeanor made her feel uncomfortable.

"I know something is bothering you, tell me now so we can end this." He demanded with an angry, yet hurt expression, causing Vivi to look at him in disbelief.

"As the Princess of Alabasta several things bother me all the time and I have no obligation to tell you about the issues I'm dealing with." She smashed her hands on the desk. The girl stood up and walked towards the pirate, stopped right in front of him and then glared up to compensate the height difference. She liked Ace a lot but she would not allow him to yell at her for no reason.

"I don't want to hear the Princess' problems." He yelled. "Be a woman and say what you want to say… What's wrong? I want to hear it from you." Ace was really angry.

The princess glared at Fire Fist, she took a deep breath and the anger in her eyes turned to sadness. "You'll leave in two years and I don't want you to go." She covered her face to hide the tears since she could not hide how she felt about Ace.

"I'm really sorry." "The pirate felt horrible for being rude to the Princess. He was so certain that she considered him a burden that he lost his temper, but the truth was that the sweet girl's depression was caused by the pirate's imminent departure. "I'm an idiot." He put his hands on her shoulders to comfort her.

"Yes you are." Vivi pushed him. "I accept your apology, I just don't want to see you right now." She turned her back to the devil fruit user.

Ace slapped his forehead and looked for words to make Vivi forget her anger. Suddenly he got an idea. "Didn't you just say you don't want me to leave?" The pirate smirked. Ace's strategy worked because the girl gasped. "Don't be ashamed, I'm aware of my effect on girls." He laughed.

"Yes, we all want to kill you." The princess said but her frown was erased as she felt Ace embracing her from behind and breathing on her neck. "Let go of me." The girl demanded, but her attempts to put resistance were suppressed by her own body.

Ace held her tighter. "I like you too, you know." He said. "I would tell you why but it will take me a long time, plus I will sound too cheesy and that's not me, at all."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Vivi's heartbeat was faster than ever. "It was going to be hard enough to see you leave, but you are making it worse." She said and Ace turned her around to see her face.

"Two years are a long time, we can make it work, just live the moment." He smiled and lifted Vivi's chin with his thumb.

"I can't do that… you will go back to the New World and I will stay here with a broken heart." She cried trying to look away but Ace's grip did not let her.

"Then come with me, I'll show you every island I told you about in my stories and don't be afraid because my crew will protect you. Marco, Vista and everyone are really strong. You can even see the Straw Hats again." Ace was getting carried away.

"I can't leave Alabasta…." Tears kept brushing her face. "I have duties with my country, my future was planned to be beneficial for my people and…"

"I knew that would be your answer." The pirate interrupted the girl with a soft kiss. "Just forget you are a Princess for tonight, ok?" He wanted to kiss her with more intensity but he waited for her answer.

"All right, but just once." Vivi smiled and closed her eyes. She was ready to 'live the moment' as Ace said before and she would have no regrets. However, just as their lips were going to meet someone interrupted them.

"You should lock the door, especially since you are not wearing your mask or a shirt." Kuzan appeared out of the blue and separated Ace from Vivi. "I don't want distractions during his training so Princess, behave yourself." He said and the girl raised an eyebrow. "You can keep tending at his wounds but you two won't be alone."

"What happened to your date?" Ace frowned as he put on the mask and a gown.

"Girls are complicated, that's all you need to know." He forced Ace out of the Princess' chambers and headed to the training grounds.

Vivi stayed in her room thinking of what started their fight and what came after. "We were fighting and he managed to make me forget I was angry at him by… " The girl gasped. "That was really close." She thought and blushed. "I wonder if…" The girl shook her head. "No way." She squeaked and smiled as her face turned redder.

The next morning, Sengoku arrived at Foosha Village with bad news from the Head Quarters, he was not a Marine anymore but that did not mean he lost his sources of information, as a matter of fact one of his 'contacts' was with him. The former Fleet Admiral scanned the little town and saw his friend playing with a baby, next to him Bogart was waiting patiently, and a young woman with green hair was frowning. "Garp, you idiot. Put that baby down or you'll kill it." Sengoku yelled.

"Shut up, this baby is old enough to survive my grand-parenting." Garp yelled back. "Luffy and Ace were causing trouble at this age." He said proudly. "This time I will do things right and make this boy a strong Marine." Garp laughed, putting the infant upside-down.

"He's going to be a pirate." Makimo said the only words Garp hated, the old man gave her the baby and started to sulk. "Thank you." She bowed and turned to Sengoku. "I'll go, but if you want anything ask in the bar." She said and walked away.

"Garp, I have terrible news." The former Fleet Admiral said.

"Hear some good news first." Garp grinned. "Tell him Bogart."

"Yes, sir." Bogart told the retired marines all he witnessed at G-5.

_**Flashback**_

Smoker arrived at G-5 with his usual though attitude and Tashigi right behind him. The Marines glared at him because they heard rumors that the Commodore was intending to put order in the base and they did not like that.

"Make a line." The logia type ordered and his subordinates complied in a bad mood. "I'm Smoker, your new boss, so do what I said and no one will get hurt. Understood?"

The marines did not respond at once but they changed their minds after receiving a glare from Smoker. "Yes Sir." They said at unison.

"And who's the cutie?" A man with a star shaped scar on his face grinned at Tashigi. "Is she the entertainment?" Those words infuriated the Sergeant. "I'm ok following you, boss, but I won't take orders from a girl." The man laughed.

Tashigi approached the Marine and punched his face, then drew her sword and put it dangerously close to his neck. "I'm the second in command, do you have a problem?" She narrowed her eyes.

"No ma'am, forgive my tasteless sense of humor." The man pleaded.

"I'll keep you all entertained, if you want it so badly." The captain cracked her knuckles as Smoker looked with pride. "10,000 push-ups." She yelled.

"Yes, ma'am." All the marines looked at her with hearts instead of eyes and developed great admiration for her beauty and strength.

"As you warm up, I'll tell you what kind of changes I'll do to this base." Smoker gave everyone an evil look and the marines understood that disobeying him meant a painful death.

_**End of Flashback**_

"That was expected." Garp laughed. "So, Sengoku what were your bad news?"

"Jango will tell you. This idiot and the other idiot, Fullbody, are currently hiding from Captain Hina because of their actions at Mariejois." Sengoku said.

"I'm really sorry." Jango sobbed as he described the 'Bonney Issue'.

_**Flashback**_

Fullbody, Jango and Captain Hina were guarding Jewelry Bonney at a room in Mariejois. Hina was enraged because, in her opinion, the supernova should go to Impel Down. However, Commander-in-Chief Kong decided to keep her away from prison for unknown reasons. Black Cage's subordinates knew she was angry so they made a comment on how beautiful she was, which annoyed her even more.

"Captain Hina, I need you to come with me." A marine called from the other side of the door. "It is urgent." The man sounded seriously shocked so the pink haired woman went to talk with him.

Moments later she opened the door and stared at her subordinates. "Hina will be back soon, take care of the pirate." She said.

"Trust us, gorgeous captain." Both men chanted as the woman closed the door on their faces. "That only made us love you more."

Bonney saw her chance to escape once the only strong Marine left. She sneaked behind Fullbody, passed her handcuffed hands in front of his head and pulled until he lost consciousness. "You are next." She said and kicked Jango in the face, sending him flying across the room. "Where is the key?" The pirate demanded.

"I won't tell you anything." Jango cried as Jewelry Bonney hit his head with the sea-stone handcuffs. "It is in my back pocket" He said.

"Good boy, your captain will be proud of you." The pirate smirked and looked for the key, once she was free she stood in the window and glanced at the defeated marine. "Why does a weakling like you have the key of a supernova's handcuffs?"

"Captain Hina was supposed to be here all the time, so it didn't matter who had the key." The former pirate cried.

"Well, see ya." The purple eyed girl jumped off the window.

_**End of Flashback**_

"Bonney managed to free her crew and steal a battleship, and now our Captain is trying to kill me." Jango sobbed. "That's why I asked Mr. Sengoku to help me."

"Why did Hina leave her station? It's not like her." Garp pointed out.

"Hina was called by Kong to be informed that Trafalgar Law is the man sending 'presents' to some Marines. Akainu himself received three." Sengoku said.

"We encounter several packages with notes before starting to guard Bonney." Jango said. "The one Hina received read: 'You have my heart in your hands.' And when she opened it, she found a human heart and the picture of a pirate."

"The ones for Akainu read: 'You are the heart of the Marines', 'I bet you have the heart of a child, so I'll give you the heart of a pirate' and 'I heard you don't have a heart, so I sent you one'… there are several more of those creepy presents." Bogart added.

"If this things happen at the beginning of the New Era, I wonder if that bastard will endure what's about to come." Garp laughed, foreseeing problems for Akainu.

**Excues so you won't kill me:**

My fellow AceXVivi fans, thank you for reading… I did not rush their relationship, Ace was flirting with her since the beginning and Vivi is a sweet and sensitive 16 year old girl who happens to notice how hot and cool Ace is. And these moments are spontaneous.

Bonney is too cool to remain under the control of the Marines and Akainu said he freaked out when she escaped so I made her escape again. XD

I'm Law's fan and I wanted to show how creepy and cool I imagine him just because he is one of my favorite characters.

Garp will laugh every time something goes wrong for Akainu, because I don't like Akainu at all.

**Sorry for not replying to reviews earlier, here they are from chapter 1 to chapter 5 and thanks, I really appreciate your comments. **

**Merichuel:** I fixed the last part of chapter 5 so I hope it is clearer now.

**Mikila94**: As far as I know Kuzan can use the Armament Haki, but for the sake of this story he can use all of them.

**Dalamin Sahara**: I'm glad you like the story but I didn't really understand your review, sorry.

**Darkfalkon**: I corrected my mistake, thanks for letting me know.

**Somethewildthing, Saveme57, Crazyfool65 and Rell** thanks for the reviews, I hope you keep enjoying the story.


	7. The Straw Hats on the Move

Hi readers, hope you like this chapter. The "**excuses so you won't kill me**" section is at the end. By the way, I screwed up the excuses of the last chapter… something weird happened and I posted the incomplete version (without the names of the reviewers), but I fixed it. You can take a look now.

Enjoy

The Straw Hats on the Move

After two years the Straw Hat Pirates met again at Sabaody Archipelago. Every member of the crew looked expectantly at their captain while he took air to give an extremely short speech. "Thank you guys for keeping up with my selfish decision." Luffy smiled. "But I must ask you to take a detour before entering the New World."

"Yes, Captain." Everyone yelled as the Thousand Sunny submerged.

Luffy approached Nami with an eternal log pose and smiled widely. "Alabasta." The navigator read.

"Ace and Vivi are waiting for us." The captain nodded and the reactions of the crew were varied. Chopper and Sanji jumped in happiness, Usopp and Nami hugged with excitement, Franky and Brook tilted their heads in confusion, and Zoro smirked but Robin's expression was undecipherable.

"It'll be all right." The swordsman reassured the archaeologist, who replied with a discrete smile.

"Let's go to Alabasta." Luffy yelled and the ship started to advance.

In a dark interrogation room at the prison Impel Down, formerly known for its flawless security, Fleet Admiral Akainu was enraged. The logia type observed an inmate who was being questioned by Chief-Guard Domino.

"What is Straw-Hat Luffy's relationship with Princess Nefertari Vivi?" Domino was losing her patience, she had been interrogating Bentham, alias Mr. 2 Bon Kurei, for hours… again.

"Give me a break! They never met, Straw-chan passed by because his log-pose pointed at Sandy Island and Princess Vivi was busy trying to not get killed by me." The Okama laughed.

"This is impossible." Hannyabal, the Chief-Warren, thought. Nothing seemed to break that man… Sadie-chan's punishments made him sing, the warren's tortures resulted in the prisoner smiling stupidly and Domino's mind games did not work either. "I'll go kill him… he is not saying anything." Hannyabal said but Akainu stopped him.

"Not now, you can kill him once you extract the information I need. Increase the torture." The fleet Admiral commanded.

"We've been doing this for two years and there are no positive results. I want to recover the honor of Magellan, he didn't have the chance to kill that Okama because Blackbeard showed up." The Chief-Warren explained.

"I don't care about stupid pride issues, do as I say." Akainu commanded, earning a glare from Hannyabal.

"Fleet Admiral, we received a call from the base at Sabaody Archipelago… the Straw Hats are back." A marine said on the edge of a nervous collapse.

"My visit is over, Warren. I'm going back to the New World." Akainu smirked and exited the interrogation room. "If I put 10 battleships at Raijin Island, Risky Red Island and Mystoria Island, we'll ambush the Straw Hats before they reach their next destination." He thought.

Vivi went from one city to another for the last two years, she had several projects in mind and she managed to complete most of them. The Princess loved to spend her free time in the hideout at Rainbase, but this time she decided to go to Nanohana, just to make sure the pirates' attacks were over. According to Chaka, the weakest crews perished and the strongest entered the New World several months ago, and Nanohana was practically unscratched.

"I have great news, I received a letter from Mr. Rayleigh and it says that Luffy will arrive at the aquarium in a matter of days, a week at most." The princess was walking by the coast with her loyal soldier, Golden Mask.

The pirate turned around and held the girl's hands. "Thank you… I guess our time is up." He sighed. "You can still come with me." He suggested as a joke, since he knew Vivi would reject him.

The blue haired girl only smiled with a hint of sadness.

Fire Fist looked around to see if they were alone and removed his mask to kiss the princess. The pirate embraced the girl and bit her lower lip, so Vivi could not help to giggle and respond by caressing his neck in a sweet way.

"My, my… Princess, keep your hands to yourself." Kuzan separated Vivi from the pirate. "Ace, put on the mask, we don't want anyone to find out about you." The former marine reminded him. Vivi was used to Kuzan scolding her for supposedly seducing Ace so she just sighed. The former admiral meant it when he said that the princess and the pirate were not allowed to be alone, he showed up every time they kissed.

"I have some issues to attend, so I'll stay for a few days. You can head to Rainbase and wait for Luffy, though; I'll catch up with you as soon as I can." She explained and walked in front of the Devil Fruit users.

"Yea right, as if I'd leave you alone." Ace shook his head. "So what happened to your date?" The pirate mocked his sensei while putting his mask on.

"Girls are complicated, that's all you need to know." Kuzan responded.

"What will you do once you get to the new world?" Vivi asked out of the blue.

"I'm going to visit Pops, I have many things to tell him even if I just talk to his grave." Golden Mask looked up. "I'll get my tattoo fixed and reunite with my crew." The pirate omitted his intentions to kill Blackbeard and Akainu to avoid preoccupying the Princess, but she already knew.

In the Florian Triangle Hina and her subordinates, Jango and Fullbody, stood on the deck of their ship as a bigger vessel approached them. The pink haired woman clenched her fists when she remembered her current situation. "Damn Akainu, after the Bonney Issue he allowed me to keep my title of Captain. Then he made me Vice-Admiral but now I owe him a big favor and after endless days in this ugly area, I'm being sent to Alabasta on 'vacations', which means I must look for pirates while I pretend I'm having fun." She thought.

"Vice-Admiral, stop thinking about that… it's bad for your health." Hina's subordinates said at unison. "Even though, you look beautiful with flames coming out of your head." Those guys knew exactly what Hina was thinking.

"I've spend my vacations of the last two years in places that Akainu thinks are related to the Straw Hats. I don't see the point of going to Alabasta since those pirates are on their way to the New World." Hina kept thinking with fury. By that time, all the marines knew about Luffy escaping from Sabaody Archipelago.

"She's ignoring us." Jango cried. "At least she doesn't want to kill us anymore."

In a matter of seconds, both ships were parallel to each other. From the deck of the biggest vessel a familiar silhouette appeared. Smoker gave his friend a cocky smile. "Are those two ready, Vice-Admiral?" He asked emphasizing the last word.

"Take them already and send Tashigi to Hina's ship." She rolled her eyes.

"What? We are going to G-5…" Fullbody cried. "You still hope we'll get killed." He said as Smoker used his logia powers to grab the pair of idiots, as Hina called them.

Tashigi jumped from her ship to Hina's. "I'm glad to see you, Ma'am."

"Hump" The pink haired woman responded. "Man them up." She turned her back to Smoker and waved as the ship started to move. The Vice-Admiral just smirked at her.

"We are having vacations." Tashigi smiled, earning a glare from Hina.

Five days later, Vivi and her escorts reached Rainbase. Crocodile's former casino was closed in order to have a total make over, at least that was the excuse Vivi gave to the gamblers, so she could wait for the Straw Hats at the hideout. In the building Kohza and Chaka were playing cards, and invited Kuzan to join as soon as they saw him.

Ace took off his mask and looked at Vivi, she nodded so the pirate approached the former Admiral. "Kuzan, I want your permission to spend time with Vivi, without you." He said a little embarrassed that the other two men chocked once they heard him.

"Where are you going?" The sensei asked. "You know I'll show up anyway." Kuzan was doing his job by keeping an eye on the princess, he always knew where they were and what were they doing. He didn't get his title of Admiral for nothing.

"We'll stargaze on the giant bird." Fire Fist pointed at the ceiling. The golden crocodile at the top of the pyramid had been replaced by a hawk and they went there every time they could just to talk for hours.

"Ok, have fun." The princess' bodyguard kept playing. He knew they only talked while stargazing so he wouldn't bother to check on them this time.

"Thank you." Vivi smiled and pulled Ace's hand, she loved to look at the stars with the pirate because he always had a cool anecdote to tell her, from the childhood adventures he had alongside Luffy and Sabo to the dangerous battles he fought with the Whitebeard pirates. "What's the story for tonight?" Vivi asked eagerly.

"I'll tell you a really funny story." He chuckled.

They climbed up the ladder that ended in the hawk statue. Once there, the pirate stared at the sky and hugged the princess. He knew their time was up and he thanked Kuzan for not allowing them to move forward in their relationship, otherwise he would have broken Vivi's heart by now. It was better to leave her with the cute memory of a crush and not with the resentment a lover leaves behind after he is gone for good. "It's better this way." Ace thought with sadness because he had strong feelings for the princess, and after their first kiss he considered to return to her once his enemies were defeated. However, that thought was dismissed as soon as it came. It would be too selfish of him to ask Vivi to wait for him. Besides, she told him that her future was already decided.

"I could stay like this forever." Vivi said. She felt safe when she was with Ace, but most importantly she felt loved. Suddenly, the girl's heart started to beat faster at the memory of the day they confessed their feelings for each other, at first she thought she was ready but she was acting on instinct and that was unacceptable. This time she wanted to say she loved him but it would be a bad idea due to Ace leaving soon.

The Straw Hat Pirates were doing the usual while their ship travelled to Alabasta. Brook was singing his favorite song, Luffy, Usopp and Chopper gasped in excitement every time Franky showed them a new weapon, Zoro was sleeping on deck, Nami and Robin read a newspaper and a book respectively, and Sanji approached the girls with delicious appetizers and cocktails. Suddenly Brook walked to his Captain.

"What's wrong?" Luffy asked, noticing that the music stopped.

"I've been wondering about the persons who wait for us in Alabasta. I know Ace is your older brother but I don't think I've heard of Vivi." The gentleman asked. "Is she a pretty girl?"

"She is a Straw Hat, but she can't travel with us because she is a princess." The Captain smiled widely.

"Vivi is a beautiful princess." Sanji imagined Vivi in the dancer outfit he chose for her and his nose started to bleed. "I wonder how much she grew…" The cook suffered a severe blood loss and Chopper had to prepare a transfusion.

"Princess Vivi, you say? Ow, sounds super." Franky made his signature pose.

"Yes, we have quite a story with her." Usopp grinned and told Brook and Franky everything that happened at Alabasta, making emphasis on his and Chopper's battle with Mr. 4 and Miss Merry Christmas.

At the end of the story Franky was crying. "So she decided to stay… that must have been a hard decision to take." He sobbed. "A princess' heart divided between her friends and her Kingdom. And I'm not crying, idiots."

"I understand the decision she took, a good ruler would die before turning his or her back to their kingdom." Brook said in a solemn tone.

"I miss her, I'm glad I'll see her soon." Chopper smiled, still helping Sanji.

"Did you meet her, Miss Robin?" Brook asked and all the crew minus Franky and Luffy gasped. The Cyborg didn't know about Robin being a former enemy and Luffy was poking his nose.

"Why don't you sing a song, Brook?" The archaeologist smiled and the musician complied with pleasure.

"How fast are we going?" Luffy asked seconds later. He was getting impatient.

"We have an amazing speed, we'll get to our destiny in one hour at most." Nami smiled. The navigator flipped the pages of Rayleigh's manual and several pieces of paper fell. "A letter?" Nami looked closer. "From Silvers Rayleigh?" She stared at the long letter. "Instructions to Arrive at Rainbase." She read.

45 minutes later Pell arrived at the hideout and saw Kuzan without Vivi and Ace.

"Hey, join the game." Kohza said but the zoan type refused.

"I'm glad you are not spying on them as always, you finally trust the Princess and Ace." Pell smiled at Kuzan. "I bet you just remember when you were their age and you realized there is nothing to worry about." Obviously Pell was an angel when he was 22.

"Yea, back when I was 18…" Kuzan started to recall his youth but then he froze, he didn't behave that well. "Damn" The former admiral rushed to the princess, he was at the edge of a heart attack but he felt relieved when he reached the final part of the ladder. Vivi was laughing at some story the pirate was telling her.

"…and that's how I stopped trying to make Marco lay an egg." Ace nodded.

"Is something wrong, Kuzan?" Vivi asked after noticing Kuzan's altered state.

The former Admiral was speechless but when he felt 9 auras at the aquarium he gave her a smile. "The Straw Hats are here." After Kuzan's words the princess cried of happiness and climbed down the ladder to the hide out, followed by Ace.

To Be Continued

**Excuses so you won't kill me:**

**Saveme57: **Thank you, I'm happy to read you like the chapter.

**Amazon:** Thanks, I'm glad you like the story. In the last chapter Vivi and Ace's moment was spontaneous and instinct driven, that's why I had Kuzan interrupting them (hinting that they would not go any farther for the next 2 years). :D

I love Mr. 2 and I didn't want him to die XD

I have no idea how long it would take to reach Alabasta from Sabaody Archipelago, so I made it five days at full speed without stopping.

Poor Hina, Tashigi is clueless… I like her anyway XD

I always imagined Pell as super respectful with women and Kuzan no so much… when he commented on Nami's boobs (chapter 226).


	8. Welcome!

Ace's Second Chance 10

Welcome!

Nami followed Silvers Rayleigh's instructions to reach the aquarium at the casino. "So convenient, this place is big enough to hide the Sunny and since it's underwater the coating will not break." the navigator said and she was extremely happy that their journey was as smooth as never before, usually a sea monster or a random enemy would be chasing them. "Maybe our luck is changing." She smiled as the ship stopped moving.

"I see the bird guy, the dog guy and Vivi's friend." Luffy yelled. "How do we get there?" He asked when he noticed that they were behind a huge glass.

"This place is super. Two aqueducts keep a certain level of water in this area, one allows water in and the other drains it. When a vessel comes, a wall will open for it and once it enters, it will close to stop the flow of liquid. This system prevents the water from leaving its glass container, allowing a platform to be connected to the main room and give free access for the passengers. In our case, the Sunny's coating, being a giant bubble, connects with the platform." Franky was excited trying to explain to Luffy the mechanics he discovered of the aquarium but the captain stared dumbly at him.

"Aren't you coming guys?" Chopper asked from the platform with the rest of the crew, he could barely contain his emotion.

"Wait… I was supposed to go first." Luffy stretched to grab the platform and in less than a second he passed through the Sunny's bubble and crashed with Zoro.

Pell welcomed them. "I hope you had a pleasant journey, if you need to rest fell free to choose one of the many rooms of the hideout and dinner will be ready in five minutes if you prefer to eat first." The zoan type acted as formal and kind as always.

"Hey Bird guy." Luffy smiled but suddenly he stood up and jumped to the living room. "Vivi." He yelled and hugged her, Sanji, Chopper, Usopp and Nami followed him. Zoro just smirked at the scene because he was too cool to display his emotions, but he was actually glad to see her.

"Guys, I've missed you so much, you have no idea." The princess started to cry.

"You still cry a lot." The Captain smiled. "I like you anyway." The group laughed.

"I've been keeping track of all your adventures, I even have your wanted posters in my room. Oh God, I'm so glad you are ok, I was so worried when I heard of the events at Marineford… I thought something horrible happened to you because you were not with Luffy, but then Ace told me the truth..." The girl kept crying.

"It's all right Vivi, we missed you too." Nami was trying not to cry.

"I'm sorry for having you worried." Chopper sobbed.

"Usopp, I'm sorry about Merry, I know how important it was for you." Vivi said to the sniper. "There are so many things I want to say."

"Let her breath…" Zoro said and approached the Princess. "It's nice to see you."

"Mr. Bushido." She wiped her tears.

"Vivi, my love, you look beautiful." Sanji tried to suppress a nosebleed.

"Thank you Sanji." She looked at the rest of the crew. "Now I feel bad because I was rude to your friends by not introducing myself to them." She sobbed and stared at Brook with wide eyes. "S-soul King?" She was amazed. "I'm a huge fan of yours."

"Such a beautiful lady… you have the charm that only the Royals possess." Brook started. "May I see your panties?" He made Nami punch him.

"That's Brook, a perverted Skeleton and the last to join." Luffy said.

"I'm Franky, the shipwright and a pervert." The cyborg posed for the Princess.

"Nice to meet you, guys. I'm happy that Luffy found great friends like you and I wish we can become good friends too." The Princess touched her heart. "All of us." She emphasized looking at Robin, who had been silent and away from the group.

"As expected from our Princess." Pell closed his eyes. "She has such a good heart… I wouldn't be surprised if she even forgives Crocodile." He told Kohza.

"Of course, Miss Wednesday." The archeologist smiled and extended her hand.

"So we are friends now, Miss All-Sunday." Vivi giggled and pulled Robin's hand and Zoro, much to his annoyance, for a new group hug with Brook and Franky.

Luffy looked at his crew with a smile, suddenly he separated from them and activated his Second Gear. "What are you doing here?" He yelled and charged at Kuzan who entered the living room with a lazy expression, which changed to surprise once he saw the rubber-man attacking him.

"Now he uses Haki. Why is he going against me?" Kuzan thought. "Front attack, then you'll appear on my left and kick me." He predicted Luffy's movements. "Ace is planning to intercept his little brother." The former admiral decided to stay still.

Just as Luffy's foot was about to touch the ice-man, Ace blocked him and sent him flying. The rubber-man almost hit the aquarium but extended his arm to grab the whitebeard pirate and clash with him. The logia type was pleased that Luffy was able to touch him so he also used armament haki to land a blow. At the end of their friendly exchange of fists both brothers smiled at each other.

"You've become quite powerful." Ace noted and Luffy's smile widened.

"Why didn't you let me kick that Marine's ass?" Straw Hat pointed angrily at Kuzan as the tall man yawned.

"That's not going to happen, he's still too strong for you…" Fire Fist explained.

"And for you." The former Admiral reminded him, much to Ace's annoyance.

"I forgot to tell you, Kuzan is in our side now." The princess apologized.

"Say those things sooner." The straw hats, minus Robin, yelled.

"I thought Miss Wednesday sold us to the marines and that we would be executed." Robin made a creepy remark and everyone shivered.

"My, my…" Kuzan looked at Nami really closely. "Well developed body and a pretty face. Where have you been all my life?"

"I wasn't even born during the first half." The navigator turned him down.

"Too bad" Aokiji raised his shoulders. "This is your lucky day, because I just happen to be single." He told Robin.

"I wish there was something between us." The woman said casually and Kuzan could not believe it. "A wall would do." She added and everyone laughed at him except Sanji who was glaring at the ice-man.

"It's nice to see you, and as I told you before I'm glad you found your place." Kuzan grinned and Robin smiled back.

"Let's celebrate your arrival by the river." Vivi said and everyone exited the casino. Carue, Eyelashes and the rest of the Super Spot-billed Duck Squad were waiting for them outside. Once the Straw Hats rode an animal they started to run at their full speed. Pell, Kohza, Kuzan and Chaka followed close with the food and drinks.

The party at the river started with a bonfire made by Ace; Brook sang his newest songs while Franky, Chopper and Usopp danced, Luffy and Ace ate like crazy, Zoro had a drinking contest with Kuzan and Kohza. Vivi, Robin and Nami discussed current events as Sanji offered them appetizers. Finally, Pell and Chaka looked at the Straw Hats with fondness.

After an hour Vivi noticed someone was missing. "Have you seen Carue?" The princess asked Pell, she was worried because her pet was nowhere to be seen, and he usually didn't leave her side.

"I'm sorry Princess, I'll look for him." The guardian answered.

Near the party place, a group of strangers found Carue. The Caribou Pirates had followed Luffy's crew from Sabaody Archipelago with the intention of killing them. Their ship was anchored not too far away so the enemies decided to walk and face the Straw Hats once and for all. "A weird looking duck. I wonder how much he's worth…" Wet-haired Caribou used his logia abilities to capture Carue and move forward with his crew.

"Kuzan!" Ace stopped eating and glanced at his sensei.

"I know, I'll let you handle them." The former Admiral said, making the Straw Hats look at him. "There's a group of pirates approaching and I don't really feel like doing anything." He yawned.

"I'll do it." Luffy yelled. "It's time to test my new power." The rubber-man was determined to encounter their new enemies and his loyal crew followed him, all of them had two things in mind: prove their new skills and make their Captain proud.

Vivi started to walk but Ace held her hand to stop her. "I've become stronger too, did you think Kuzan was actually protecting me?" She smiled sweetly. Ace smirked and let her join her friends.

The Caribou Pirates stopped walking when they saw the crew they followed for 5 days. "They charge straight at us… are they underestimating us?" The green eyed man licked his lips.

Luffy entered Second Gear and strengthened his fist with armament haki but Ace appeared before him. "Wait and see your friend's powers, after all, they trained so hard for you." The logia type looked at the Straw Hats and grinned. "Each of you will take down a section of that crew." Fire Fist pointed in Caribou's direction.

Zoro prepared his three swords and revolved to create a tornado-like attack, which eliminated the first group. Sanji covered his body in flames all of a sudden and burned his section of the enemies. Nami created a huge black cloud and electrocuted the pirates in the blink of an eye. Usopp shoot a seed that grew into a man-eating plant and took down his part of the group. Chopper transformed into a full-grown reindeer to send the pirates away with his enormous horns. Robin focused on creating huge limbs to smash her section. Franky transformed into some sort of weapon and shot the enemies. Brook hypnotized his portion and cut them without them noticing. Finally Vivi jumped to the battlefield and used her peacock slashers to take down everyone within the reach of her weapon.

Surprisingly, some pirates were standing up after the Straw Hats beat them to a bloody pulp so Zoro took extreme measures. "Duck!" He warned.

"Carue?" The princess, Luffy and Chopper said at unison. The girl was expecting to see her pet but she instantly dodged when she saw Zoro's attack. The other two that got distracted were unharmed too, Luffy was out of range and Chopper was in his brain point so the attack passed way above him.

"Are you trying to slice us in half?" All the Straw Hats except Robin yelled.

"It would be really interesting to see a red desert if our blood mixes with the sand." The archaeologist made one of her creepy remarks, making everyone shiver.

The battle was almost over but the Captains were still standing.

"Wow, so neat." Luffy yelled. He was really impressed with his crew, they really became strong, even Usopp and Nami who used to be cowards and only fought when completely necessary. "That got me pumped up… I'll take down the weird-looking one." He told Ace, who raised an eyebrow since both enemies were very strange.

"Who's the Captain?" Fire Fist cracked his knuckles as both remaining pirates pointed at each other. "You annoy me." Ace used a Haki enhanced kick to knock out Coribou, the fat man with the reptile on his head.

Luffy was finally able to use his Second Gear to punch Caribou in the face. "I'm a logia type, physical attacks shouldn't affect me." The green eyed man passed out.

"Depending too much on your logia power makes you weak." Ace stated.

"Ace, that was really wise." Vivi looked up on him and he grinned.

"He's just quoting me." Kuzan yawned and Ace's eyebrow twitched.

Several things appeared from Caribou's body, treasures, weapons and Carue, who ran straight to Vivi. "You must have been really scared, and I had no idea you were in danger, forgive me." The Princess sobbed.

"She does cry a lot." Franky pointed out, suppressing a sob himself.

"And you are the one to talk?" Usopp made fun of the cyborg.

"I suggest we continue the party." Kuzan froze the enemies and Pell placed them on a net so he could fly with them to a jail in Alubarna. The former admiral approached the Straw Hats with a barrel full of booze.

"For all of us." Luffy yelled at his crew and they cheered with him.

The group made a big circle and shared their funny stories, Luffy told them about their time in Amazon Lily but Robin wasn't paying attention, she made an ear appear near Vivi and Ace since she found them more entertaining. The Whitebeard pirate was getting too close to the princess and she was giving him a worried look. Then he whispered something in her ear followed by a question. "What do you think?" He smirked. "I think you are going to sleep." She said and sprayed something on him, suddenly Ace yawned and fell to the ground. Robin laugh and Vivi smiled shyly at her new friend, who surrounded the circle to sit next to her.

"Do you love him?" Robin went straight to the point and Vivi nodded. "I assume you haven't told him because we are leaving soon and it would be too painful for you." She guessed and Vivi nodded again. "Miss Wednesday, say it or the regrets will kill you, By the way, a little kissing never killed anyone." She winked and left.

The celebration continued for five days. The unbearable heat was beaten by an Ice-wall made by Kuzan, and the freezing nights were warmed up by Ace's bonfires. The music, the food and the drinks never stopped, and the friends talked about anything they could think off. However, the fun ended when Pell returned and landed next to Vivi.

"Vice-Admiral Hina and Captain Tashigi are at Alubarna." He said and the princess' face turned white.

To Be Continued

Thanks for reading

Excuses so you won't kill me:

The reunion was all tears because Vivi cries a lot, but that's what makes her Vivi and that's why we love her XD.

The Straw Hats' powers are just a sneak peak of what they can do (got inspired by the opening lol).

As you can see I do too many time-skips… they just happen XD

And I hope you liked Aokiji's pick-up lines… he uses them every time he sees a girl (even if he met her before).

I totally see Robin and Vivi putting the past in the past and becoming friends, I also see Robin noticing Vivi-Ace before any other Straw Hat. That will help with their friendship (They kind of bonded immediately, that's Vivi for you XD)

Amazon: Thanks for the review. :D

Saveme57: Thanks for the review. I love the kidnapping idea and I hope it happens in the anime during the reverie but for the story I already have the solution for Vivi's problem XD (hope you like it).

Mikila94: Thanks for the review :D. Sorry, Sabo is not alive, it would be super cool but I don't think I'll be able to make it work in the story T_T.


	9. Idiots on the Lose

Ace's Second Chance 10

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Idiots on the Lose

While the Straw Hats were having a five days party Pell flew to Alubarna. One day, two marines descended from a tourist ship at Nanohana and all the people at the port were overjoyed. They were Vice-Admiral Hina and Captain Tashigi, according to the newspapers both women played an important role in capturing the Baroque Works' agents who caused trouble in Alabasta two years ago.

"Those women are considered heroines and it is expected that the royal family will give them special treatment, so I took them to the palace." Pell told Vivi.

"Of course, I will show them the kingdom's best tourist attractions." The Princess said and walked towards Pell. "Take me to Alubarna, please. I need to fix myself to look like a princess." She said and then turned to her friends. "Guys, there are several fun things to do. Kohza will guide you around and hopefully I'll meet you in a few days." The girl smiled and sat on Pell's back.

"Actually I don't think it's a good idea for Kohza to go with them. It would be a problem if the former leader of the rebellion is seen with pirates." Chaka said. "I suggest that Kohza accompanies you in the tour with the marines so they can see how strong your relationship is and that the kingdom is united once more."

Nami was expecting a jealousy reaction from Ace but he was talking to Luffy.

"That's a great idea. Let's go Kohza." She said and the man sat on Pell's back too. In a matter of seconds the Zoan type took flight carrying Carue with his claws.

"What do we do now?" Luffy asked.

"I will be your tourist guide, we'll have so much fun." Chaka announced.

"I don't think it would be beneficial for Vivi if you are seen with pirates." The former admiral said. "I'm sure they'll be ok by themselves, plus, Ace is going with them."

"That is true, what was I thinking?" The Zoan type apologized and the Straw Hats walked away from him and Kuzan. "Aren't you going to act as the Princess' bodyguard?"

"I'll show up if she needs me." He yawned. "Ace, wear this." The former admiral threw an orange hat to the pirate. "I recovered it from Marineford, this means your training is over."

"Thank you, I owe you a lot and I never forget my debts." Ace put on his hat. "I guess Golden Mask must go." He said and hid the mask on his desert gown, leaving Luffy wondering who Golden Mask was.

Ace, Luffy and the rest of the crew put on the desert gowns that were 'in' at Alabasta, courtesy of Terracota, and rode the Super Spot-billed Duck Squad towards Rainbase. "There's the casino, good restaurants, great bars, a spa, the market, the mall, camel races, and more…" Ace listed some places he thought would be appealing to the Straw Hats.

"The Casino is still open for 24 hours?" Robin asked. She recalled the pyramid-shaped building and the giant crocodile on top, which had been replaced with a hawk.

"Yes, it's full all the time. The night you came it was empty because Vivi ordered a make-over, but it must be completed by now… you'll get to see it soon." Ace said.

The pirates talked about their experiences on different islands, their training and complimented each other's abilities. Ace asked for Brook's autograph and told him that Vivi had tone dials with all his songs. The whitebeard pirate also told them that Vivi hired the Galley-La Company to improve some aspects of the cities, since the Princess had great ideas and Iceburg and Paulie could build everything.

"You seem to have a good connection with Vivi." Nami gave him a devilish smile, she felt like torturing Ace a little. The pirate smiled and was about to answer when the girl spoke again. "But what surprises me the most is how well Vivi and Kohza get along."

"Yes, they've been friends since childhood, I though you knew." He looked surprised that the navigator didn't know something that important.

"Of course I knew, I meant that the way they look at each other is marvelous, such stares have trust, complicity and even love." She elongated the last word.

"I agree, it's just amazing that they kept their friendship after all the years and troubles. Luffy and I share the same bond, and you all do to." He smiled thinking about his friends, the Whitebeard Pirates.

"You are not fun to mess with." Nami whispered and frowned. "Anyway, I'm glad you and Vivi have a strong bond too." She smiled with sincerity and Ace smiled too, Zoro made a mental note to learn how to outsmart that tricky friend of his, but forgot about it as soon as he finished that thought.

The pirates stopped a mile before Rainbase, Ace let go of the ducks to avoid getting attention, but kept Eyelashes for the girls, the others walked the rest of the way. Once in the city they separated. Zoro carried Chopper and decided to find a bar, Sanji hit on all the girls he saw, Usopp went to the market to check out the weapons, Robin entered a book store nearby, Franky walked around to look for Iceburg's works, Brook's fans found him and asked him to sing, Luffy pulled Ace towards a restaurant and Nami turned her attention to the casino and gave it a mischievous look.

Vivi wore one of her finest dress to meet the Marines. The princess looked beautiful on a white silk gown with golden ornaments, and she wore a tiara and her hair down. Kohza was also elegantly dressed and both entered the royal salon where the marines were eating, in the company of the King. "Vice-Admiral Hina, Captain Tashigi. I am overjoyed to see you and that you chose Alabasta for your vacations." Vivi smiled.

Hina and Tashigi stood up and bowed once they saw Vivi. "On the contrary, your majesty." The pink haired woman said. "We are flattered for being hold in high regard by your people and we are thankful for your hospitality."

"Please take a seat and resume your supper." Vivi said and occupied the chair at the right side of her father and Kohza took the left seat. Cobra looked powerful but the princess knew he wasn't feeling well. The King would never tell Vivi but the girl noticed that his health was decaying and that he called the royal doctor two times on the same week. However, Vivi would never offend her father's pride by asking about it.

The meal went on very lively, the marines asked about the kingdom and the king answered very pleased by the interest of the women. Vivi commented how much she admired strong women and that she would love to travel as they do, so Kohza offered to protect her if she ever decides to make a journey overseas. Tashigi noticed the good relationship of the Princess and the former rebel leader so she asked about it and Kohza told her the story of their friendship, which made everyone laugh.

"Your Majesty." Tashigi started to feel uncomfortable because she knew she did not deserve the honor she was given. "You know well that the Straw Hat pirates stop Baroque Works. So why do you treat us as heroines?"

Vivi was not prepared to answer but Cobra was. "The marines arrested Alabasta's fake hero and his subordinates, thus becoming idols for my people. As far as we know, Straw Hat defeated Crocodile, the man behind the rebellion, for unknown reasons. Then Nico Robin, Miss All-Sunday, joined their crew and Crocodile fought along Monkey D. Luffy at Marineford. My theory is that they were allies but they had an argument that ended on the downfall of the former Warlord. That's all."

Hina stared at Vivi, she knew something was going on with her and the pirates but that had to wait. "Tashigi, you are imprudent. The King has his reasons to do this and we must respect them, besides we are on vacations." She scolded the captain.

"Forgive me your majesty." Tashigi bowed and Cobra nodded.

At the end of the meal Vivi gave the marines two rooms in the castle and offered to give them a tour of the most exclusive places of the kingdom. The Vice-Admiral agreed and the three women plus Kohza entered a chariot pulled by white horses.

"Your Majesty, I would love to visit the famous Hawk Casino." Hina said.

"Of course, miss Hina." Vivi smiled and turned to the charioteer. "Take us to Rainbase, please." The man nodded and started to advance. The expected time to reach the city was cut in half by the Galley-La Company's special roads and bridges that made it easier to cross the desert and river. Vivi explained the new travel system and complimented Iceburg's work. She also talked to them about the exclusive gifts Alabasta sent to the Celestial Dragons and the places they came from, she promised to take them there too. Kohza told the marines that the city of Yuba became a prosperous place, that there were several spas all over the kingdom and that the former rebels were now loyal soldiers and hard working men.

When the chariot stopped Kohza climbed down to help Vivi and the Marines. The princess led the way to the Casino, the Vice-Admiral and Kohza followed her but Tashigi lost sight of them when a crowd passed by.

"What do I do now?" The blue haired girl said to herself. Suddenly she heard a familiar voice which led her to the central square. "You?" She asked not believing her eyes. The woman passes through the fans and made it to the singer. "Soul King… Can I have your autograph?" She asked in a childish way.

"Of course, I could never deny anything to such a beauty." Brook said as he signed his poster. "By the way, may I see your panties?"

"Thank you." She hugged the poster and ignored his comment. "Bye." She left. Tashigi was so excited to see her favorite singer that she erased from her mind that he was a Straw Hat pirate. So she kept walking and put her glasses over her head.

Franky and usopp had found each other an hour ago and started building an armor for Eyelashes at a random street, suddenly Tashigi approached them with a dreamy expression. "Is that a horse statue? You must be really talented."

Usopp recognized her and became really nervous. "She's the only woman Zoro can't deal with." He thought and was glad that their appearances did not match their wanted posters anymore. "It's a camel ma'am… I guess we are not that talented." He laughed nervously so Tashigi apologized and left.

"What was that?" Franky asked intrigued, so Usopp prompted him to go somewhere else while he told him about that marine.

"That was really embarrassing and rude." Tashigi scolded herself for insulting the art of those men. "I was not wearing my glasses." She felt dumb at her realization so she put them on and walked in a restaurant, since she was feeling hungry.

"I think I died… I must be in Heaven if I am able to see an angel." A blond man led her to a table and put a bowl of steaming soup in front of the girl. Tashigi looked up but her glasses were blurred so she could not see Sanji drooling. "I do not deserve to be in the presence of a Goddess so I'll leave." The pirate said once he recognized her.

"That was close." Sanji lit his cigarette." Saved by a bowl of soup... I'm glad she's not that brilliant." His eye became a heart. "But she is gorgeous."

By the time Tashigi was done with her food she forgot about Hina, so she chose to take a bath at the Hot Springs. The marine entered the place and her glasses blurred once more, so she only saw the silhouettes of two women talking about their days. The red-head said something about the casino and the raven haired one spoke of a library.

The archaeologist saw Tashigi and prepared to fight her but soon realized that the marine could not see them. The pirate women ended their bath in silence and left unnoticed. "I didn't think we would run into her." Robin whispered.

Tashigi exited the spa with more energy and peace so there was no way she would return to Hina's side. The girl bought a map and sat on a bench to find something to do, suddenly a man with a raccoon on his head caught her attention. "That's adorable, not many men are willing to be seen with cute pets. I bet he is the sensitive type." Tashigi blushed and saw him leave, not realizing that he was Zoro because Chopper obscured his face. Luck and Tashigi's cluelessness saved the Straw Hats from being discovered but there were still two idiots unaware of the marines.

Hina gambled at the Casino during Tashigi's adventure and once she was exhausted Vivi suggested they go to a nice restaurant nearby. Kohza opened the door for the girls, as the gentlemen he was. The Vice-Admiral passed by a mirror and stared at herself for a long time, with an undecipherable expression. She looked at her beautiful strapless dress and long gloves, they were red and black respectively, she was also wearing red high heels. However, behind all that glamour she hid spandex shorts, in case she needed to fight, she was a cautious woman.

"Oh, Princess." A woman bowed at the entrance of the restaurant. "Do not enter this place, there are men eating like mad beasts, and one fell asleep in the middle of his meal, we thought he was death but he woke up and started to eat again. There is a rumor that they are pirates who came to rob the casinos of the city and the jewel stores at the mall." The woman was scandalized.

Vivi was worried about Tashigi being by herself since she could bump into the Straw Hats any time, but after hearing that woman she realized that the young marine was the least of her problems.

"Allow me to get rid of them, Your Majesty." Hina smirked when she noticed that one of the men was wearing a straw hat and the other had a familiar orange hat.

"Vice-Admiral, my bodyguard will take care of them." The Princess tried to stop Hina and looked around for Kuzan, he appeared whenever she needed him.

"With all due respect, I don't see any bodyguard, besides; these pirates are Marines' business." The pink haired woman stepped into the restaurant.

"Kohza." Vivi looked at her friend so he took out a snail phone.

"Pirates, you are under arrest." Hina shouted and attacked Luffy once he turned around. She caught him swallowing his food so he could not do anything when she kicked him and threw an iron shackle to pin him to the ceiling. Then she turned to Ace and he did a better job dodging all her punches due to his observation Haki. Then the marine started to use Soru, she was way faster than before, and punched him in the stomach.

Ace didn't know about the CP9 techniques so he was taken aback. "What was that? The next time I see that I'll be able to counter it." He thought and then realized something more important. "She's not using Haki, how can she touch me?" Ace asked to himself. "Who are you? It wasn't nice to take me by surprise." He smirked at the prospect of a good challenge.

To Be Continued

Excuses so you won't kill me:

Hina and Tashigi are two of my favorite Marines XD

I promise more fights for chapters 11 and 12…

I think that's it, well hope you liked the story so far.

Saveme57 and Mikila94, thanks for the reviews, I really appreciate them :D


	10. The Marines Take Action

Ace's Second Chance 10

Happy Wednesday and Enjoy the chapter.

The Marines Take Action

The tension was palpable on the restaurant. Luffy was stuck on the roof by an iron shackle around his neck and he was struggling to free himself. Ace was recovering from the blow Hina gave him and wondering what kind of power she used, it wasn't haki, that was for sure.

The whitebeard pirate stared at the marine and released his conqueror's haki, it had no effect, the woman flinched a little but that was it. "A strong will, huh?" He said.

Hina ignored the pirate, she attacked him once more with Soru, her movements were fast and powerful and one punch, that Ace was able to dodge, destroyed a table and the floor beneath it. The same sequence of attacking and dodging was repeated several times until the restaurant was destroyed. Hina would charge at him with all her power but Ace would not attack because Vivi was there and he could not take the risk of hurting her. "It's time to end this." The marine yelled and revealed a gun holster in her thigh, then she took out the weapon and pointed at Fire Fist.

"Go ahead." Ace smirked, since he was a logia type a bullet would never hurt him. The woman pulled the trigger but Luffy managed to get free of the cage and fell over her, making her miss the shoot. The bullet hit Ace's shoulder. "Sea-stone?"

Vivi gasped and fought the urge to run to Ace's side, she looked at Luffy and he was lying on Hina's back. The marine pushed Luffy away to pin him down with her devil fruit powers and finally she aimed at Ace's head. Fire Fist prepared to take Luffy and run but Kuzan entered the restaurant and froze the floor. The bodyguard had been watching the battle and would scold Ace later for underestimating his enemy.

"Whoever is trying to hurt the Princess will pay with blood." The former admiral looked at the place and scratched his head. During the distraction Ace used his powers to create vapor, and escaped with Luffy.

"The pirates are escaping…" Hina rushed to the door but Kuzan stopped her by the forearm. The ice-man felt dizzy but managed to hold her. "What is that?" He asked.

"Hina must get them." She struggled to get free of Kuzan's grip but it was in vain.

"There is no way you can catch them now, if you chase them they could kill you since the visibility is zero with this vapor. We'll get them together." He said.

"Admiral Aoikiji?… I mean Mr. Kuzan..." Hina stared at him, she was so focused on the pirates that she did not notice the logia type. "Thank you for the help."

"I would go to the end of the world for you." He winked.

"Would you stay there?" Hina rolled her eyes and the former marine explained that he started working for Vivi after his resignation. "Poor Princess." She looked at Vivi with sympathy.

"Anyway, what happened to you?" He looked at Hina with curiosity. "You survived a fight against Fire Fist Ace and Straw Hat Luffy. No offence, but you are not that strong… I assume you took them by surprise and used other tricks, courtesy of Vegapunk." He observed her clothes with detail, earning a slap.

"Hina became stronger, she can use most Rokushiki and she has more control of her devil fruit powers". She said crossing her arms. "The 'tricks' are Dr. Vegapunk's new inventions but they need further testing and Hina is taking care of it." She explained.

"That man is crazy, what is he making you do?" Kuzan's eyes turned severe.

"Hina's gloves have sea-stone dust on the surface and she has sea-stone bullets too." She said. "Hina is requested to take a drug to increase her speed, strength and Devil Fruit powers." She added with a hint of fear, it was clear that she didn't want to do that. Hina would never rely on drugs to become stronger but that was unavoidable.

"Why did you become that Psycho's lab subject?" Kuzan frowned.

"Orders from the Fleet Admiral." She said with her usual professional manners. "Now, Hina would like to call Akainu and the Vice-Admirals on this area."

"Sure." The former admiral sighed. "Kohza, hide the Princess, I'll be in touch with you." He ordered and the blond man left with the girl.

In the New World Akainu was losing his patience, the battleships and Vice-Admirals he appointed were only wasting time, since the Straw Hats didn't show up in the ten days they had been waiting. "Fleet Admiral, Vice-Admiral Hina is on the line." A young marine said.

"What is it?" Sakasuki spoke in a menacing voice.

"Straw Hat Luffy and Fire Fist Ace are in Alabasta..." Hina said and Akainu ended the communication to prepare his battleship and head to Sandy Island.

"I want to see him, he is hurt." Vivi sobbed, she was worried for Ace's health and could not hide it anymore. The Princess called Carue, he would take both of them to Yuba in no time. "He'll be in Yuba, I know." The girl bit her lip too hard that she tasted blood. That gesture gave away how worried she was.

"Emergency, we'll meet at the Oasis." Kohza said through his snail phone. He called the Straw Hats' snail phones and expected them to understand that the Oasis was Yuba. "Do not talk in case we are being spied, the pirates are here and we must protect Vivi with our lives." He ended the communication and the snail rang again.

"Kohza, Vice-Admiral Hina contacted Akainu and the nearby battleships led by Vice-Admirals Dalmatian and Doberman. They will be here soon, so if you see the marines put the Princess' protection on their hands." Kuzan ordered and the communication was interrupted.

"If I see them, that is." Kohza chuckled and looked at Vivi.

"I hope everyone manages to reach Toto's house." She looked at the desert.

Ace and Luffy entered an empty alley. "That was close." The older pirate stopped the bleeding of his wound. "I would be death if it wasn't for you." He smiled.

"I'll kick that marine's ass." Luffy frowned.

"First of all we need to get to Yuba, Vivi and I agreed that we would meet in Toto's house if we get separated by a situation like this. It's a good thing she's so cautious." Ace said.

"You and Vivi…" Luffy started and Ace blushed. "are really smart." The rubber-man smiled innocently and the brothers started their journey.

Brook ended his little concert when his baby snail phone rang. He separated from the crown and listened carefully to Kohza's words. "The oasis…" I don't know what he's talking about. "Yohohoho." He started to sing again.

"Brook." Sanji caught up with his friend and led the way. "I know where to go." The cook wasn't busted, thanks to his wanted poster, but he received Kohza's message and tried to find Nami and Robin but he realized that Brook wouldn't know the meaning.

Franky and Usopp received the message and the sniper explained it to the cyborg, both of them started to move among the crowds and thought that they would make it to the desert but a soldier spotted the unusual human and approached them,

"What's that?" The soldier asked. "Some scrap metal I used to build a statue, I'm an artist and I would love to do a sculpture for the Princess." The sniper lied, he pretended to be pushing Franky with the help of Eyelashes.

"It's cool, anyway have a good day and beware of the pirates, lucky us the marines were nearby and it won't take long before they get to Rainbase." He said. The soldier left so the pirates ran for it and managed to get to the desert.

Nami and Robin encountered a group of soldiers outside the mall and were forced to defeat them. "Clutch." The archeologist said and the enemies fell on their knees. "To Yuba, you said?" She asked and Nami nodded and explained that they went there to stop the Rebels and that Toto gave Luffy special water from that Oasis.

"This situation is bad, we are running into the desert with nothing but the things we purchased. We don't have to worry about water, I can make it rain but the long walk under the sun will be a problem because my clouds won't last that long." Nami sighed.

"I don't get Kohza's call." The swordsman scratched his head as he carried Chopper, the poor reindeer almost passed out due to the climate.

"We must go to Yuba, the oasis that was targeted by Crocodile's sandstorms." The doctor panted. "I heard someone saying that the marines were approaching the city so we better hurry… Not that way." He said when Zoro gave a wrong turn. "I'm pointing in the right direction, How can you miss that?"

Toto received a message from Kohza, the old man was supposed to wait for the Straw Hat Pirates and hide them in his house but only Carue arrived that day. He waited for three days until Ace and Luffy managed to reach the Oasis. Toto treated Ace's bullet wound and gave Luffy all the food he could eat. Robin and Nami arrived hours later, they looked really bad, and their journey in the dessert was too hard for the navigator, who passed out as soon as she entered the house. The next group was Brook, Sanji, Zoro and Chopper, they met halfway to Yuba, and the lack of water was taking effect on them. The last group was Franky, who ran out of cola and carried Usopp and Eyelashes on his back. According to the cyborg, a beast attacked them, hurt the sniper and almost killed the camel.

"This is bad." Chopper said and started to treat all his friends. If his diagnose was accurate everyone would be better by noon.

The next morning Kohza and Vivi arrived at Toto's house. "Ace." The princess gasped and rushed to his side, the pirate was glad to see her and extended his arm to grab her hand, so the girl sat next to him and caressed his cheek. "I'm glad you're ok."

"Guys, let's go to the kitchen, I'm starving." Nami suggested and everyone agreed. Kohza and the Straw Hats, minus Luffy and Sanji, wanted to give them a moment. The captain was actually hungry and the cook was dragged out by Zoro.

"What happened? You are way stronger than Hina." She sobbed and hugged the pirate, feeling his warm skin, since he was not wearing a shirt.

"She took me by surprise. She was not using Haki, yet she could touch me. I could predict her movements but she was too fast, and I was overconfident of my Logia type powers. There's something more… Luffy reacted weird when he touched her." He explained and Vivi told him about the tricks Hina used.

"Remember that you can't die. You promised me." She kissed him and he held her tighter to return the kiss. The girl felt her heart race and caressed Ace's arm until she reached his bandages.

"It took you too long to get here, Carue was here first." He chuckled.

"The soldiers secured the exits of the city to buy time for the marines. So Kohza and I had to hide for two days and let Carue go first since he draws too much attention, we reached the dessert at night and we walked for two days more." She explained and he kissed her again. "Kuzan told Kohza to 'put my protection in the marines' hands if he saw them' so we avoided them." She smiled evilly and resumed the kiss with more intensity.

Nami and Robin were spying on the couple in their own ways, the navigator was peeping on the door and the archeologist made an eye appear on the wall, but both were thinking how cute it was.

"…and that's how the marine was able to fight Luffy and Ace." Kohza explained the source of Hina's power. "Kuzan informed me that Captain Tashigi, the Vice-Admirals Hina, Dalmatian and Doberman are trying to catch you, along with a hundred marines, and Akainu is on his way so I suggest you prepare to leave… but we can't get to Rainbase in plain daylight and you still need to restock your supplies."

"I have a plan." Vivi joined the discussion after having a moment with Ace. She told them her idea and everyone agreed with her, after repeating the plan one more time so that Luffy could understand it, the princess took out a marker and drew an X on her left forearm, the pirates smiled and did the same. It was the symbol of their friendship. Kohza did not take the mark, according to him, that X was the bond between Vivi, Ace and the Straw Hats, The bond between the princess and him was the Suna Suna Clan.

"Will we still be friends if our arm gets ripped off by the enemy?" Robin asked and made everyone shiver.

"Princess, now that we are officially friends… May I see your panties?" Brook asked and Vivi shook her head with an outraged expression.

"Hey, Vivi. That was rude, why don't you insult him?" Zoro smirked hitting Ace with his elbow. "Watch this." He said.

"Mr. Skeleton." Vivi had troubles coming up with insults.

"Is that your idea of an insult?" Ace stared at her in disbelief. "Do you even know how to curse?" He asked and Vivi blushed. "I'll take care of this." He sighed.

"Yea, just try." Zoro laughed and sat nearby to wait for the show.

"A duck." Ace though. "Vivi, this guy with an F is…" He said pointing at Carue.

The princess thought for a second and frowned. "F…" Ace looked at her expectantly. "Farue?" She tilted her head and everyone laughed.

"I give up." Ace sulked in a corner after several failed lessons. Vivi dismissed the scene and turned to Kohza.

"I forgot to tell you, these are the things we'll need." The princess wrote down a list and gave it to her childhood friend. They would need 'stolen' horses and gowns, of course Vivi would pay for them once the Straw Hats were gone. "Can you do it?" She asked more like a joke, since there was nothing Kohza could not do for her.

"Right away." He smirked and left the house. "How can they be so calmed in such a dangerous situation? They really are special." Kohza thought as he went to gather the Princess' requested items. "Vivi is in good hands." He smiled and the girl separated from the group to use a snail phone. Kohza knew who she was calling and laugh at the thought of him helping the Straw Hats, Gedatsu was clueless but very loyal.

To Be Continued

Excuses so you won't kill me:

Ok, I found this video on you tube: **Portgas D. Ace Must Die** it's a trailer based on the movie **John Tucker Must Die** and it's so funny but the most important thing is that it's sort of a Vivi/Ace. I personally loved it.

Saveme57: I agree with you. Luffy needs to get in action and he will, I promise.

Son of Whitebeard: I thought the mask was a nice detail (it was Law's idea by the way). And I will bring Sogeking back (just a brief mention) XD

Mikila94: I did mean Tashigi, I'm giving her more 'screen' time because she'll be pretty important latter on.

Thank you guys for your reviews, they mean a lot to me.


	11. Desperate Escape part 1

Ace's Second Chance 8

Hello readers :D happy Wednesday and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Desperate Escape: Part 1

Kuzan and Hina were in the coastal city of Nanohana, they were mobilizing their troops in order to capture the Straw Hats and Ace, and trying to find the Thousand Sunny. Suddenly the former Admiral's snail phone rang. "What is it?"

"The pirates found us…" Kohza yelled. "Someone followed us to the Oasis."

"You know their faces from their wanted posters, I can't believe you did not notice any of them following you." Kuzan sounded altered.

"I've never seen this man before." The blond man said. "Vivi and I are ridding Carue but the pirates are chasing us with horses." Gun shots were heard. "We'll head to Rainbase so the marines and soldiers can slow them down as we escape the city and follow the river to Nanohana."

"I'll meet you half way." Kuzan stated as the sound of two more shots faded.

"They will flee once they see you and the marines will miss their chance to capture them… just follow my plan, we'll meet you in Nanohana." Kohza explained and ended the communication.

A group of 10 people followed Vivi, they were wearing white gowns and ridding black horses. Occasionally one person would get to close, making Kohza shoot them but they were fast enough to dodge. "Princess, we will cross the city and get to the river." Kohza said and Vivi nodded.

The soldiers at Rainbase were surprised to see the Princess but they got scared once they saw the pursuers. "Split!" The voice of a man commanded and the pirates separated as soon as they got to the city, so now they were five groups of two people against the princess. The loyal soldiers started to shoot and got in the way of the horses but the pirates jumped over them. At the center of the city the ten riders met again and surrounded Carue so Kohza used a whip-like weapon to scare the horses, then he grabbed the hand of a pirate to throw him or her away from the horse and shot other enemy in the head, using the distraction Carue got lost between the houses and the marines helped the soldiers to stall the enemies.

Moments later Carue was leaving the city and trying to reach the closest bridge to cross the river. It was time to make another call. "Kuzan, we left the city and the pirates behind, once we are on the other side of Alabasta we will be safe."

"I'll request the help of the Vice-Admirals… Dalmatian and Doberman are at Alubarna." The former marine said but Vivi interrupted him.

"We're approaching the bridge. Where are the pirates?" She yelled.

"Damn. They're taking down the Marines and Soldiers." Kohza said before ending the communication, but he did not mention that two pirates were gone before crossing the bridge, or that the Marines and Soldiers were taken down by a pirate's Conqueror Haki.

Carue crossed the bridge and Vivi saw a man wearing a dog mask and other man moving in their direction. The princess passed right next to Dalmatian and Doberman. Kohza noticed that the zoan type managed to take down two pirates with one kick for each. However, the other six increased their speed due to the swordsman catching up with them. "What's with that ridiculous speed?" He thought and aimed at one of the pirates but he missed the shot several times and ran out of bullets so he took out his weapon. Two pirates reached Carue and tried to grab the princess but Kohza repel them both with a movement of his whip.

Halfway to Nanohana Doberman tackled a horse and threw its rider to the closest animal, thus stopping two pirates. "Four to go." The Vice-Admiral laughed and took out his sword. The Princess prepared her peacock slashers to attack but Kohza told her to stay focused on the road and she was glad because she did not want to fight her friends, not even to keep a façade.

"I see Captain Tashigi." Kohza grinned and Vivi squeaked. The former rebel hit the sand in front of a horse and made the animal stop while the pirate raised his arm with a fist to curse the blond man. Suddenly Kohza used his whip to direct Tashigi to a pirate so she used her sword to make other enemy fall from a horse. "She got here faster than I thought, one stop more and we're done." He reassured the princess.

Minutes later Kohza and Vivi reached Nanohana and before entering the city, a pirate appeared in front of them and forced the duck to run to the coast. "You are not going anywhere." Hina yelled and restrained the pirate with her devil fruit powers, immediately she turned to the other and threw a cage to the horse's legs, making the pirate fall. The marine woman was wearing her official uniform again.

"Thank you Vice-Admiral." Vivi smiled and stopped at the beach, where Kuzan found her after Kohza called him. "It's almost over." She sighed and looked at her bodyguard but he shook his head, knowing how the princess felt at the thought of Ace and her friends leaving.

"It's for the best, you are a Princess and your kingdom is first." Kuzan said.

"I know and I want to thank you for taking care of me all this time." Vivi said. "You protected me from my desire to see the world as a pirate, you are protecting my heart from the feelings I have for Ace, and you will protect me once everyone is gone." She looked to the sea.

"The Straw Hats will always be your friends and Ace won't forget you." Kuzan knew that the Princess was strong, mentally a physically, but she was too emotional. "She is too calmed, I thought she would be crying already." He was suspicious.

Kohza was heartbroken to see his best friend sad and not be able to do anything about it, he felt so useless and he was angry at the pirates, especially Ace, for making her suffer. But he realized that he could not hate them because Vivi was really happy when she was with them.

"Straw Hats." Dalmatian growled as the two pirates removed their gowns. Sanji was furious because he didn't want to be separated from Vivi, Robin and Nami, and Chopper was in his Heavy Point and a little scared but he couldn't afford to show it. The Vice-Admiral attacked immediately and kicked the doctor. "The weak must be eliminated first." He said and used Soru to appear above his fellow zoan type and send him straight to the river. Sanji would not allow it so he used another CP9 technique to jumped in the air and rescue his friend. "Geppo?" The marine gritted his teeth and used the same technique to avoid falling in the water. Once he was in land Chopper transformed into his Walk Point and charged against the enemy followed by Sanji. The reindeer tried to stab Dalmatian with his antlers but he used Tekkai to strengthen his body and threw him against the other pirate. Chopper changed to Guard Point and Sanji kicked him towards the enemy, Chopper transformed into Kung Fu Point and the cook charged at the marine with his black leg style. After the combined attack Dalmatian was buried in the sand and after a while he stood up laughing.

Usopp and Brook were scared to death from the menacing-looking marine. He was a powerful swordsman with several X-shaped scars on his face and neck, the man did not talk he just stood there narrowing his eyes to the pirates. Suddenly he drew his sword and attacked Brook, completely ignoring the sniper. "Are you trying to kill me? Wait, I'm already death. Yohohoho." He made his skeleton joke but Doberman just fought with more power. The marine's speed was amazing, even for Brook, so the pirate had to back off and hit immediately. Since the skeleton was putting a good fight the Vice-Admiral wouldn't take the risk to let the other back him up, so he managed to avoid one of Brook's techniques and went after Usopp. He punched the sniper in the stomach and hit his head with an elbow, making sure the pirate coughed blood. Usopp stood up with trouble and shot pop greens to the sky that turned into bamboo-like plants, which almost stab Doberman. The marine tried to strike the sniper once more but the enraged musician intercepted him. "Do not touch my friends."

Zoro cursed under his breath and promised to take down Kohza for what he did, the blond man stopped him on purpose to fight Tashigi and she was the only woman he couldn't deal with. Ace was angry too, he was supposed to allow the marines to stop him for a while but he wanted to keep following Vivi and as soon as the former rebel recognized Fire Fist he sent the marine straight to him. "Damn Kohza, I'll get you for this." Both pirates thought. Captain Tashigi knew she was in trouble, Roronoa was too strong for her and Fire Fist Ace was way beyond her, still she had to do her best and stop them even if it killed her. The girl drew her sword at the same time as Zoro did, Ace moved discretely to her left and tried to make a run for it but Tashigi threw a knife enhanced with armament Haki, which stopped the pirate. "Interesting, so that's what they call Haki?" Zoro smirked and clashed swords with her.

Luffy was once more stuck with Hina's iron shackles, the rubber-man wasn't hurt but it took him to long to squish his body and free himself. Meanwhile Robin was trying to make her body parts appear on the marine's body but it was impossible due to the sea-stone particles on her clothes. "I can't touch her because of the sea-stone and I can't let her touch me because of her Devil Fruit powers, there must ne a flaw somewhere." Robin thought, a little annoyed that Luffy kept repeating her that she must kick the marine's ass. Hina charged at Robin with Soru and dragged a knife from her jacket. "A CP9 technique? I was the only one who didn't fight one of them." She frowned and dodged the attack but slightly touched Hina's clothes. "That was careless." She gasped. Luffy was finally free but Hina threw another iron Shackle. "Luffy, stay focused." Robin was frustrated because the distracted captain kept falling for the black cages.

Nami tossed away her gown and entered the Hawk Casino with ease once all the marines were gone. She went to the Hideout and took a detour to the golden statue for her personal reasons. Then she went back to the aquarium. Nami sighed, she was really mad at Kohza because he made her fall from the horse and all her body was hurting. Seconds later she saw Franky preparing the Sunny to leave, the cyborg had built a human size doll and attached it to the horse to pretend it was a pirate, the one Kohza shot in the head. He swam from Yuba and entered the hideout the same way the Sunny did. "Are you ready girly? We are going full speed." He grinned and made a pose. The navigator nodded and started to give directions to her friend.

"I want to avoid the Marines for a while but I don't want to leave Vivi, we really missed her and somehow I had the feeling that she would come with us this time." The redhead said out of the blue.

"She'll stay." Franky said with a nostalgic tone. "She knows that Alabasta depends on her, and even though she longs to come with us, she won't leave unless you force her to do so."

"I know… that's how you became our Nakama." Nami turned to him and narrowed her eyes. "Don't you dare to cry."

"I'm not crying." He sobbed. "But the memory is too painful."

To Be Continued

Excuses so you won't kill me:

… I hope it's not confusing (the dummy that received the bullet, etc)…

Saveme57: Thanks for the review :D Sadly, Hina has no choice because of a deal she made with Akainu… (did I mention I hate him? XD).

Milika94: I'm so glad you like the humor, and you are right Gedatsu is the priest. He is so the best XD.

Son of Whitebeard: I love that idea, the thing is that I won't be able to make it work in the story. T_T Sorry.


	12. Desperate Escape part 2

Ace's Second Chance 10

Happy Wednesday, enjoy this chapter.

Desperate Escape: Part 2

Sanji observed his enemy's movements, the zoan type was able to use Soru, Tekkai and Geppo, the cook recognized both techniques from the CP9. Dalmatian growled and charged at the doctor, who switched to Heavy Point in order to stop him. Dalmatian lifted Chopper and jumped to hit his stomach. After the reindeer coughed blood the marine appeared behind him and kicked his head, Sanji tried to intercept the hit but Dalmatian jumped higher and scratched the cook's hand. The pirate cursed for the pain and tried to kick the Vice-Admiral but the zoan was faster and smashed him against a falling Chopper. The marine jumped above his enemies and used Tekkai to crush them in the ground with an amazing force.

Chopper changed into his Brain Point, determined to find Dalmatian's weakness. The marine attacked with several kicks but the doctor evaded them shifting from Point to Point. Sanji closed his eyes and remembered his time with the Okamas, it was a living Hell, suddenly his body set on fire. The cook gritted his teeth and started a battle on the air with the Vice-Admiral, both man fought with powerful kicks, yet the marine had the advantage. "One bite and it's over." Sanji thought when Dalmatian transformed into a dog and bared his fangs at him. After an endless sequence of attacking and dodging, Sanji managed to deliver a blow thus sending the Marine straight to Chopper who used his Heavy Point to restrain him in the ground. "I was just testing your power, brats." The marine transformed into a huge dog.

"Fresh Fire." The pirates heard a familiar voice and used the distraction created by their friend to jump into the river. Sanji carried Chopper, who lost consciousness after touching the water, and entered the bubble of the Sunny. Seconds later the Cyborg joined them and the Vice-Admiral left out a frustrated bark, he could not follow them anymore since he would drown.

Brook jumped very high with sword in hand but Doberman calculated the place where the pirate would fall and blocked the hit singlehandedly, suddenly the marine drew another sword and directed it to Brook's eye socket. The pirate bent his bones to let the attack pass and returned to his normal posture ready to stab his enemy's chest. Doberman would not allow it, so he twisted his arm and blocked the pirate's sword, right after the quick counter attack Brook backed off but he wasn't fast enough to avoid a beheading slash.

The pirate's bones collapsed and Usopp stared in shock, even though he trusted his friend to be strong enough to survive and eventually win the battle. The sniper froze when he saw that the musician wasn't moving so he decided to fight once his legs stopped shaking. "I'm a warrior." The pirate shot several Pop Greens to the floor, they grew into a spiky net, forcing the marine to stay still since a false move could be fatal. Then Usopp threw a shell-like item at Doberman's feet and shot a fire blast with his slingshot. The marine noticed the smell of gas too late, since the fire reached him and caused a huge explosion.

"That's the combined power of my Pop Greens and Dials." The sniper grinned and pulled a string with his finger to retrieve his Flavor Dial but Doberman emerged from the smoke curtain and sent a slash towards Usopp. In the meantime Brook reassembled his bones, he wanted to see his friend's power so he faked his defeat.

Both swordsmen clashed again, this time the musician overpowered the marine and froze his weapon at contact. The Vice-Admiral did not lose his composure, on the contrary, he took his other sword and threw several flying slash attacks, acknowledging the paramecia type as a worthy enemy.

"Thunderbolt Tempo." Lighting forced Doberman to back off, in the commotion Usopp and Brook jumped to the river and Franky dragged them to the Sunny's bubble. Nami dissipated the cloud and went back to the ship. Doberman stabbed his sword in the sand and regretted to miss a good match.

Ace needed to find a way to get to Vivi and say goodbye. The Whitebeard Pirate ran towards Nanohana but Tashigi buried her sword on the sand and used it as support to spin and kick Ace. He could overpower her anytime but since Zoro was just standing there he had to stall her at the moment. The swordsman stared at the marine woman and couldn't help to see Kuina, it was painful to think of her deceased friend and it was even harder to see someone who resembled her so much in everything, from her face to her fighting style. "I must snap out of this… She is not Kuina." Zoro though and prepared to fight her but before he made the first move the girl spoke.

"Roronoa… Aren't you going to fight me because I'm a woman?" Zoro broke at those words, as she even behaved like Kuina. The girl was infuriated, she swung her sword and charged at him with incredible speed, the pirate dodged it but refused to fight back. Tashigi got tired of Zoro's mocking and sent him a flying slash attack, which managed to scratch the pirate's cheek. Then she used a haki based technique to send several more blows that resembled leaves, most of them were deflected by Zoro, yet one hit him in the arm. "Stop pretending I can overpower you, fight like a man. I know my attacks would never touch you." She yelled feeling really humiliated, until she realized what was going on. "You are trying to stall me for some reason." She whispered and her baby snail phone rang. "Yes?"

"The pirates escaped by jumping into the river." Doberman warned. Zoro ran towards the girl to steal the device. The girl grabbed his arm kicked his leg to make him lose balance and restrain him in the ground. Ace saw his chance to escape but before leaving he had to make a comment. "I see you guys are having fun." He said after noticing their proximity and intense stares. "Don't forget to jump to the river when the time comes." He grinned and ran away, being completely ignored.

Zoro stood up to carry Tashigi over his shoulder, once there the girl kicked and punched but nothing worked, until she poked his eye. Then the girl took back the baby snail phone and decided to call the marines at the shore but Zoro stole it again and restrained her arms with his own before she could grab her sword. At this moment Tashigi realized that she could at least find out his motives to be in the Kingdom. "What's going on here? Why would you come to Alabasta when you were so close to entering the New World?" She said, and inch away from the pirate's face.

"This place has something we need, so we came for it. Satisfied?" Zoro smirked.

"Is it treasure?" She narrowed her eyes and the pirate noticed that something made her look different, so he held her with one arm and took off her glasses with the other hand. The girl felt uncomfortable by the look Zoro gave. "Or the Princess?" The pirate crushed the glasses for the shock. "I knew it, what does the Princess have to do with you?" The pirates saved the Kingdom two years ago, that was suspicious.

"We were expecting to get some millions of berries in exchange of her, but you ruined our plans, so we'll have to steal from somewhere else." The pirate lied. "By the way, how much would Smoker pay to get you back alive?" He smirked and Tashigi hit his stomach with her knee and his forehead with hers.

"I don't know, but looks like I'll get a 120,000,000 berry and a promotion." She put her sword around his neck.

"Keep dreaming." He grinned, tossed her weapon aside with a fast move and restrained her again. The girl gritted her teeth and closed her eyes after realizing her defeat. "Sorry about the glasses… Franky don't do anything, she won't follow us." He yelled when he saw the shipwright and let Tashigi go so that he could jump to the river.

"Damn you Roronoa." She cried. "I swear that I'll arrest you someday."

Hina's suit was covered in Sea-stone particles that prevented Robin from appearing limbs on her body. The archeologist took a step back to analyze the situation, which was pretty even. Robin could not attack but Hina could not capture her either. The marine ran towards her enemy as she made hands rise from the sand, but Hina was fast dodging them and threw a cage that passed an inch away from Robin's head. The pink haired woman smirked as the pirate rolled her eyes, Luffy had been caught again. "Luffy, why do you keep falling for her iron shackles?" She whispered.

"Focus on me." Hina kicked Robin but the pirate disappeared and reappeared behind her. The archeologist put her hands on Hina's head and the marine pushed her away and used Soru to punch her repeatedly. Robin's body became a whirlpool of rose petals that transformed into giant legs to crush the marine. The pink haired woman used Geppo to avoid the constant attacks, she managed to approach Robin and punch her. The pirate tried to hold the impact but was blown away because of the power of Soru so once in the air she grew wings to have an advantage, since she was able to fly for more time. The marine made an expression of disgust and threw cages at Robin, which were evaded with ease, until Hina used a combination of Geppo and Tekkai to knock the pirate to the ground. In the impact Robin stole something from the marine and disappeared from the marine's sight, then a hand came from HIna's head and pulled her hair. The Vice-Admiral took out her knife and Robin withdrew her limb.

It was an even match. The women were not able to trick the other or cause severe damage. "This is going to take too long." Both thought. Robin glanced at Luffy, the dumb captain broke free and as soon as he smiled triumphantly other Shackle flew in his direction. Robin grew hands in the sand to move Luffy away and Hina threw several more cages in their direction. That was when Robin noticed why Luffy was so distracted by Hina's attacks, they were really shiny. "So simple minded." She laughed and grew wings once more, to fly far away from Hina. Suddenly a familiar redhead rose from the river and created a tornado.

"Robin, I want to kick that marine's ass, she shot Ace." Luffy frowned.

"I see something shiny on the river." The archeologist faked a gasp.

"Let's go check that out." He said with excitement.

The small sandstorm was not enough to distract Hina, she noticed that the woman at the river was standing on a surface and holding on to a flagpole. "Could it be a mast?" she narrowed her eyes to distinguish why it was so shiny. "A coated ship? Damn pirates, that was so clever. Hina is pissed." She gritted her teeth. She ran towards the river and jumped.

Vivi sighed for the tenth time. Kuzan approached Kohza and told him that he suspected that the princess would try to run away with the pirates, but the blonde laughed and told him that Vivi wouldn't do that, suddenly his face turned serious and explained that the girl was suffering in silence.

"Vivi, will you tell him now?" Kohza approached the princess. Kuzan was right, she was too calmed, even more than the first time the Straw Hats left.

"He will be gone by the time I make up my mind." She smiled sadly. "Besides, we won't even notice the Sunny leaving."

"You do realize that it was your last chance to see him, don't you?" The blond sighed. "You'll eventually get married, become the Queen and have an heir or heiress. You may love your future husband or not, you may forget Ace or not, but I can guarantee that you will regret it all your life if you don't tell him how you feel." He patted her head.

"He knows it." Vivi was outraged. She showed him she loved him in every kiss and every word they exchanged. "How could he not know?"

"You never said it, plus he can be as dumb as Luffy." Kohza smiled and walked towards Kuzan, just in time for Vivi to see Ace running in her direction.

"Wise words… Are they Pell's?" Kuzan asked and Kohza nodded.

Vice-Admiral Hina used Geppo to stay on the air and her devil fruit powers to pierce the river and the Sunny with a little luck, she could not tell where it was since the flag and the redhead submerged once the captain and the archeologist were pulled underwater. "It's a perfect plan. They move underwater, they go unnoticed, they do what they need to do on land and then they escape. All without being seen… but it's over since Akainu is not far and I destroyed their coating." She smiled as the Sunny emerged. Hina jumped to the sand and kept following the ship.

"Vivi, listen to me." Ace said before the princess could say something. "I have an idea, I know its last minute but…" He turned around after seeing Vivi's shocked expression. The Thousand Sunny was exposed, and Hina was behind it, so Ace had no other option than holding Vivi as a hostage. The girl tried to break free from his grip.

Robin jumped off the ship and tackled Kuzan, restrained him with her powers and put a gun into his forehead. Zoro did the same but put the end of his sword at the Kohza's neck. Nami ran towards a small building at the shore. Hina witnessed the pirates' actions and cursed Robin for stealing her gun. Chopper gave Usopp a dart with a powerful sedative, the sniper shot and the marine fell to the ground.

Ace and Vivi stared at each other for a moment and then the Princess took a deep breath and said a simple goodbye. The pirate did not want to hear a farewell, but he stood there waiting for something else. After a minute or two of silence he nodded and turned around. In the last second Vivi held his hand.

"I will forget I'm a princess, I will live the moment and I will have no regrets…" She sobbed much to Ace's surprise. He wondered if she would go with him.

Kuzan tried to stand up but gave up because of Robin. He knew she would pull the trigger if Luffy suddenly decided to take the princess with them. "I knew something was wrong." He gritted his teeth.

There was a 'but', Ace knew it. "But you can't come with me." He wiped the tears of her face, then he slipped a paper on her desert gown. "Become a great Queen." He kissed her cheek, Vivi thanked him for understanding and then he turned to the Sunny.

"I forgot to tell you." She pulled his hand, her heart beat faster than usual and she blushed as the words escaped her mouth. "I love you." The princess and the pirate kissed for the last time.

The kiss went on and the Straw Hats' reactions varied. Zoro and Robin smirked knowingly, Usopp and Chopper sighed at how cute it was, Sanji was sulking, Franky was crying, Luffy smiled widely, Brook took out his violin and played a romantic song. "They make my heart skip a beat, even though I don't have a heart." He laughed. Nami returned to the Sunny carrying a black bag and belies instead of eyes.

The couple broke the kiss and Vivi closed her eyes while taking a step back.

"Akainu." Kohza warned and the Straw Hats looked to the sea and saw a battleship approaching. Some pirates wanted to fight, the others were scared to death.

To Be Continued

Excuses so you won't kill me:

I hope you liked the battles so far.

I'm a hopeless romantic, that explains a lot XD

saveme57: I'll make Luffy fight soon, but I don't want him to kill Hina. I do have the perfect enemy for him and he'll have a reason to kick that enemy's ass for real. XD

Mikila94: Don't worry, Ace forgot about Kohza once he saw Vivi XD but Zoro is not the forgiving type (evil laugh).

AnimeXCats333: Awww thanks for the comment, I'm glad you like the story. And three cheers for Bonney XD.

KimyonaGirl: Me too, I was like 'Robin, please let him go… that's just wrong.' But I couldn't stop laughing. XD I really appreciate that you like the story.

Guys, Thanks for the reviews, they make my day.


	13. The Target is Vivi

Ace's Second Chance 11

Happy Wednesday, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

The Target is Vivi

Usopp confirmed that Akainu was on board of the battleship, he turned to Luffy for orders but realized it was a huge mistake, since the captain would want to fight. The pirates stared at Luffy as he cracked his knuckles, no one said anything until Vivi yelled at him. "Luffy, don't you dare to fight him. Show me you are a capable leader and take your crew to safety." She almost pleaded but the captain frowned and agreed after a stare competition.

The following events happened too fast, Usopp guessed that by that time Akainu would be able to see the beach. Ace turned Vivi around and pointed a dagger to her neck. "Robin, Zoro, get back to the ship." Luffy commanded. "Try something funny and you won't have a princess to protect." Ace threatened Kuzan, at this point the bodyguard didn't know what would happen next. Robin and Zoro reached the ship as it started to move deeper into the sea, Luffy stretched to grab his brother and the princess.

"What are you doing? Let me go." The girl struggled, losing her desert gown. "Kuzan, help me." She was desperate since boarding the Sunny wasn't part of the plan.

**Flashback**

The Straw Hats stared at Vivi as she explained them her plan to escape Alabasta. "First of all you must reach the Sunny and take it to the sea. Rainbase is surrounded by marines so the only way to enter the casino is by guiding them away from the city. To do so, you will wear identical desert gowns and chase Kohza and I to the city." She glanced at Franky. "You will be too difficult to hide…"

"I can make a doll to pretend it's one of us." The cyborg said. "I will swim all the way to Rainbase, because I'm super." He posed.

"Perfect, then Nami will leave the group at the city and enter the casino to help Franky." She glanced at the navigator who nodded in response. "It will take time to take the ship at the end of the river and I know the Vice-Admirals will come to my rescue, so the eight of you will stall the marines as long as you can, but stay by the river at all times. When Franky and Nami are close to you, they will give you a signal or distract you enemy so you can jump to the river and enter the Sunny's bubble." She paused, her face showed how focused she was. "There is no way to know who will fight who so don't get killed." She suppressed a sob and shook her head to continue. "All of you must be on the ship once it reaches the ocean, the marines won't know what happened to you and you'll be able to leave the kingdom before Akainu gets here."

"That's an excellent plan." Ace complimented. Nami and Robin giggled and Fire Fist stared at them a little confused. "What?" He asked and the girls giggled even more.

**End of Flashback**

"You'll be back soon, I promise." Ace whispered and Vivi relaxed at his words. The girl looked at Kuzan and Kohza, who had angry expressions and then she turned to the pirates who were also worried.

Akainu's ship and the Thousand Sunny crossed paths and Ace held Vivi with a firm grip and gave the fleet admiral a threatening glare. With the princess as a hostage the marines would never lay a finger on them, Fire Fist was positive of that, he even gave his enemy the smuggest smiled he had.

However Akainu had other plans. The marine saw his chance to take revenge from the humiliation he suffered at Marineford, where he almost killed Ace and Luffy but an unexpected ally appeared to take them away from him. It was time to make those D carries pay. The fleet admiral raised his hand to release lava on the pirates until he saw a blue haired girl being held tightly by Fire Fist, she was the Princess of Alabasta, but that did not matter since he would kill anyone who got in his way. As for an excuse he would tell that the Princess was dead when he attacked the pirates. Suddenly a great amount of lava was directed to the Straw Hats' ship.

Kuzan was enraged, he could not believe that Sakazuki would kill the princess in order to get the pirates. The former admiral approached the ships by freezing the water around him and moving forward. However, he felt relieved when the lava was dissipated and the ship was not damaged.

Ace and Luffy created a Haki shield to protect the Sunny and the rest of the crew. The captain gritted his teeth and tightened his fists, he hated the Fleet Admiral for hurting his brother and that hatred grew the moment he endangered his friends. "Did you think a 'hostage' would stop me?" Akainu said hinting that he was aware of the relationship they had with the royal family.

"Damn you! I won't allow you to hurt the Princess." Kuzan appeared in front of Akainu with ice spears ready to impale his former ally. Sakazuki jumped back while throwing lava at Kuzan's face, which was blocked by his armament Haki. "I see you've become a babysitter… I didn't spare your life to do this." Akainu threw more lava to melt Kuzan's ice. Both men recalled their time at Punkhazard and their current battle turned serious. "Attacking a marine won't look good for a worker of the Royal Family." Akainu created a huge sphere of lava and directed it to Kuzan. "Attacking a Princess won't look good for you either." Aokiji created a pillar of ice to jump away from the lava. Unfortunately Akainu's sphere destroyed a building at the beach, an important one since Vivi covered her mouth and Kohza cursed under his breath.

As the former Admirals fought, the Sunny was at a safe distance so they could let go of Vivi. The girl wanted to hug them all and thanked them for the amazing time she had with them, but that was out of the question. Instead she took her left hand to her heart and showed the X mark. Ace fought the urge to kiss her, he extended his arm and showed her the symbol, then all the Straw Hats did the same. Robin noticed that they were moving fast so she ran to Vivi and pushed her off the ship with her left hand. They exchanged a few words and smiled.

Kuzan kept attacking the Fleet Admiral with all of his strength when he saw Vivi falling to the ocean, he ignored Akainu and rushed to the princess' aid, that action enraged the marine even more. Kuzan froze the sea until he reached Vivi, the girl was shaking and stuttered some words so the bodyguard took her to the coast as fast as he could. "Are you ok?" He asked and the girl calmed down to nod.

When they arrive at the beach Kohza helped her to stand up while Kuzan glared at Akainu, the marine was staring at them and a slight smile escaped him. "Capture the Princess." His underlings looked at each other in a confused manner but followed the order to avoid getting killed.

"What am I being accused of?" Vivi was in shock. "You are suspected of Piracy." He simply said, but there was no way Akainu could know about her being a Straw Hat… The only time she was careless was at the bay when she gave her speech and asked if they would still be friends. After that realization Vivi almost slapped her forehead. "Of course, that wouldn't go unnoticed." She thought. "But they don't have proof of that and if they do, why did they wait two years to arrest me."

"You expect us to believe that the Princess of Alabasta is a pirate?" Kuzan laughed. "You better have a good reason for doing this, messing with the Royalty is a serious business." He narrowed his eyes.

The marines started to approach Vivi while she was picking up her desert gown. Kohza used his whip to keep them away, he grabbed the hand of a man and threw him against the others but when the enemies surrounded them he had to be more aggressive. His whip moved like a snake and hit the chest of the marines, making them fall. Vivi started to spin her peacock slashers, Kohza kneeled next to her so she could throw them like chains, the girl made a twist and pushed the marines away, she took back her weapons and Kohza stood up. The man hit the sand with his whip and raised the sand to create a cover, then he hit the marines' with enough strength to make them pass out. Vivi noticed other men approaching and used her slasher as a yo-yo to hit them in the head. She just loved her weapon, it was beautiful.

"Move Kuzan, let me do my job." Akainu growled after seeing his men being defeated by the princess and his friend.

"I'm doing my job too." The former admiral was prepared to fight at any second.

"I defeated you two years ago, I can do it now." The lava user sentenced.

"Maybe we should call Blackbeard and have him defeat me so you can take the credit. Just like you did with Jewelry Bonney, but wait a second, didn't she escape?" Kuzan was having fun, reminding the fleet admiral of his mistakes was priceless.

"I spared your life, that's how you repay me?" He questioned with rage.

"You did not kill me so I would live with that humiliation and follow your orders, but I chose to quit and serve the Kingdom of Alabasta." He explained and their fight went on. The lava and Ice destroyed everything around them, the buildings became ashes and people were caught in the battlefield. Some had severe burns and other had their limbs frozen.

Vivi saw Kuzan's expression and realized that he was not her bodyguard anymore; Akainu transformed him into the marine who fought for the position of Fleet Admiral and he was blinded by hate. Both men thought that they were back at Punkhazard. "Kuzan, stop this." She yelled, the battle had to end to avoid the destruction of Nanohana and the loss of more lives.

"Akainu will declare you guilty even if you are innocent." Kohza whispered after kicking a marine and punching other that got too close. "Captain Tashigi and Vice-Admiral Smoker know about you and the Straw Hats, but they kept it to themselves at Kuzan's request." No one else was able to hear them. "Vice-Admiral Hina is suspicious but that's all and the Fleet Admiral only needs one chance to make you confess that you are involved with them."

"But I can't let people get hurt... Tell my father what's going on." She whispered and dropped her weapons. "Fleet Admiral, stop this battle." She raised her hands in rendition. "I am willing to go with you and prove my innocence." The Princess yelled. Kohza took her desert gown and picked up her weapons as Akainu walked towards her.

"I see you are a reasonable girl after all. Anyway, this document gives me the power to take you under my custody and question you on the Straw Hat Pirates." Akainu showed her a piece of paper, Vivi read and the blood left her face but she remained strong, she would not let him know she was scared. "Failing to honor this document will be considered treason and you don't want to be a problem for your father, do you?" Akainu smirked as the princess nodded.

"Why didn't you show it to me since the beginning? You could have avoided all the destruction you caused." She looked at him with disgust and started to walk towards the Marine ship, where the interrogation would take place, according to the document.

"It was my mistake, your majesty." Akainu said with sarcasm and followed her. Kohza gritted his teeth and Kuzan called the King to give him the bad news.

The Straw Hats were stressed out, even though they were at a safe distance from the marines something was bothering them. Ace was walking in circles and complaining that Akainu was not supposed to attack them as long as they had Vivi as a hostage and he cursed himself for putting her in danger.

"Miss Wednesday will be fine, the marines do not know about her involvement with us and even if they are suspicious she has immunity for being Royalty. The only way Akainu has to lay a finger on her, without losing his position, is with a document signed by the Gorosei. Such a thing is really hard to obtain and I doubt that the elders will allow Akainu to hurt the princess of a Kingdom that has the Celestial Dragons in such a good mood with their tributes." She smiled and everyone stared at her. "In the last two years I obtained very useful information on the World Government and the Marines… and Vivi told me about the gifts for the Celestial Dragons."

"Now we know that Vivi is ok." Luffy sighed with sadness. "We can head to the New World." He said without enthusiasm.

The rest of the crew got depressed too. Nami, Usopp and Chopper were sitting on the grass with teary eyes. Brook and Sanji were looking in direction to Alabasta with nostalgic looks. Franky was crying and Robin tried to console him by patting his back. Ace sat on the stairs with a frown and Zoro looked at them, both men were sad too but they would not show it. "If you wanted her to come with us you shouldn't have threw her overboard." The swordsman said, earning a glare and insults from everyone. "That was cruel." Robin told him with her arms crossed.

Gedatsu, Eneru's former priest, opened a door of the Sunny. "The Straw Hats?" He gasped. "This is not good, every time they show up a ruler is overthrown or a place is destroyed. The Princess asked me to help the people of this ship but I cannot honor her wish, they are dangerous for her." He said it instead of thinking it, as he intended to.

"He is from Skypiea." Luffy pointed at his wings after hearing him. "How did you get here and what's wrong?" He frowned as the former priest turned purple.

"Gedatsu forgets several things… like breathing and speaking." The reindeer dropped a sweat when he realized how stupid that sounded.

"How careless." He gasped for air. "The Princess asked me to take you to a nearby island and help you, but you are dangerous people so I can't do that, yet I don't want to disappoint her." Gedatsu was in a huge dilemma.

"You can trust us." Ace stood up and put on his mask, making Gedatsu change his attitude to a cooperative one, he would never doubt the hero of Alabasta.

"Wow, who are you?" Luffy asked amazed. "Ace look at this guy." The captain tried to find his brother but he could not see him anywhere. Everyone but Chopper stared at him and called him an idiot. The reindeer volunteer to look for the Whitebeard pirate. "I wish Sogeking was here too." Luffy sighed.

The group decided to ignore the simple minded captain, Nami turned to Gedatsu and both set the course of the Sunny to the Spa. The former priest told them how he got to Alabasta and that he was grateful with the Princess and Kohza's uncle because they gave him a chance to become a different person. Ace listened to the story with a smile and removed his mask.

"Ace, I finally found you." Chopper smiled and Ace patted his head.

King Cobra was finishing some paperwork when his snail phone rang. He did not feel like answering but he was not the type man who would avoid work, so eventually he took the call.

"Your majesty, we have a problem that requires your immediate attention. Please come to Nanohana as soon as possible." Kuzan said and Cobra rushed to the city, Kuzan would never call him if it wasn't a matter of life and death.

To Be Continued

Excuses so you won't kill me:

I just love the episode when Luffy was looking for Sogeking and he had Usopp right in front of him and I love how innocent and cute Chopper is.

Finally Gedatsu appears, I like him now that he is a good guy… I liked him before too but now it's different.

I hate Akainu and Kuzan rocks.

Sadly, the Kuzan, Vivi and Kohza must follow the rules imposed by the world government, that's how it works for people under the law. T_T

saveme57: I know, I hate Akainu XD and about Vivi… I can't say anything of what she'll do. Sorry, I just hope everyone likes the end.

Mikila94: Yea, Kuzan is as perceptive as always :D


	14. Personal Justice

Ace's Second Chance 10

Happy Wednesday, this chapter marks the beginning of the end of the story.

Personal Justice

Vivi entered a dark place in Akainu's battleship. It was a small room with grey walls and a single lamp above a chair, there were some things on the walls but the poor light made it hard to distinguish them. The Princess was scared since she knew what was expecting her, the document signed by the Gorosei allowed the Fleet Admiral to seclude her to obtain information on pirates and use torture methods if necessary. The interrogation process would last until she was proven innocent or until she died. Vivi's thoughts were focused on the pain she would suffer and the freezing room was not helping, she felt trapped yet she was determined to deny every connection with the Straw Hats, otherwise her father and kingdom would be jeopardized. Alabasta would be destroyed by Akainu, she knew that much.

The wooden door opened and a young marine entered the room laughing at Vivi. He made comments on how low the royalty had fallen to be associated with pirates, that even though they looked down on everyone they were not different. The Princess felt bad for him, she could only imagine what led him to feel that way towards Royalty. "What was a delicate flower like you doing with a bunch of pirates?" He mocked her. "I know, you wanted to feel the emotion of disobeying your daddy so you chose pirates as your companions. A typical rich girl's dream." He kept laughing and getting close to the Princess. Suddenly his face turned evil and yelled in her face. "What were you doing with the Straw Hats?"

"I'm sorry that you feel anger towards me, I don't know if there is a way to make you forget all those negative feelings but I can listen to you and share your pain." She extended her hand to him but he slapped it.

"Don't give me that bullshit and answer my question." He yelled even louder. "What were you doing with pirates?"

Vivi felt disgust towards herself for lying about her friends, she would do anything to save Alabasta and they would understand but denying them felt wrong. "They took me from the beach and my bodyguard could not stop them..." She started to explain.

"As I thought, Aokiji is a pathetic excuse of a marine, who could not even protect you from those worthless bastards, Monkey D. Luffy and Gol D. Ace. The Fleet Admiral should have killed them all." The man laughed.

That did it. People could accuse or insult Vivi and she would accept her flaws… but offending her friends was unforgivable. The Princess slapped him and the marine turned at her but the door opened again.

"Sergeant, I will take your place. Summon Captain Tashigi to assist me." Akainu entered the room so the young marine exited the place after smiling evilly at the Princess and whispering that he heard her friendship speech two years ago.

"Fleet Admiral." Vivi nodded to acknowledge his presence.

"I assume you'll cooperate, your majesty." He removed his gloves and grabbed the Princess' left forearm, luckily the X mark was erased when she fell to the ocean, then the Fleet Admiral looked straight to the girl's eyes. "What were you doing in the Straw Hats' ship?" He asked.

"I was their hostage." She felt her skin burning but she did not dare to look down, it was clear that he was raising the temperature of his hand to hurt her but he would not use lava or he would kill her. "They took me from the beach to prevent Kuzan from following them." The pain increased, yet she refused to cry.

"I'll try it once more." He whispered. "What were the Straw Hats doing in your Kingdom?" He waited for an answer.

"How am I supposed to know…?" Her voice failed when she recognized the smell of burning skin, followed by an agonizing sensation. "This is only the beginning." She thought, gritting her teeth to stand the pain.

"I make the questions here." He removed his hand and took a deep breath. "Take a look, it's not that bad." The marine's hand was marked on Vivi's forearm, her skin was peeling off and its red color made her stomach turn. "Let's proceed with something nicer." He walked around the room wondering what tool he would use to get the truth from Vivi.

The princess didn't notice until then that the objects that hung from the walls were whips, knives and every thinkable object used to cause horrible damage.

Tashigi was in her newly appointed cabin when a sergeant she disliked told her to join Akainu in the Princess' interrogation process. The Captain reached the room but Hina stopped her, it wasn't long since the Vice-Admiral had woken up.

"Here, Smoker mentioned you break them a lot so I took them from your room." Hina gave Tashigi a pair of glasses. "I will be assisting Akainu, you can watch through the snail video transmitters." She said and opened the door, for a second Tashigi was able to see the Princess' eyes filled with a mixture of fear and anger.

Tashigi witnessed the interrogation with disgust. At first the Fleet Admiral put the black bag on Vivi's head, it didn't seem so menacing but then the Princess' legs moved frantically and her hands tried to take off the bag. When Akainu removed it Vivi gasped for air with teary eyes and shook her head. "Where are the Straw Hats?" The man would ask again and repeat the process after the Princess yelled that she didn't know.

The second method was worse, Hina gave him a small device that he put in Vivi's chest. He asked for the reason the Straw Hats were at Alabasta, she breathed slowly and said she didn't know. The man pressed a bottom and an electric discharge hit the girl, she clenched and unclenched her fists but not a sound escaped her lips, tears began to fall, they were not for pain but for anger.

After different types of torture Tashigi thanked Hina for taking her place or she would have burst in tears right there. The young marine wanted to stop the process, it was clear that the Princess didn't know the whereabouts of the pirates, as a matter of fact she saw her running away from them. "The Straw Hats did get rid of Crocodile and ended the Civil War. If I were the Princess I would be grateful to them." She shook her head. "But I am, they saved Mr. Smoker from drowning." At that moment Tashigi started to question the Marines' methods. "Create your personal justice." She repeated Smoker's words.

"Is being helped by pirates a crime? If it is most of the marines would be put to jail since the Straw Hats have done things that the Marines could not accomplish." Hina said to Akainu when Vivi passed out after telling them that Luffy stopped Crocodile, most Marines knew that. The man looked like about to hit the woman so she left the room to call a medic.

"Vice-Admiral." Tashigi ran towards Hina. "This is not justice…" The captain began but the older woman stopped her.

"This won't stop until she dies or you find out why the Straw Hats were here." Hina looked around and then kept talking. "I'm on Akainu's hands but you are not, I suggest you start looking in the Casino." She said and Tashigi ran off the ship.

Vivi woke up minutes later after Akainu threw cold water on her face, then he put his hand on her arm and made a question the princess could not answer. "Kill me already if that's what you want." The girl said through gritted teeth.

"I don't want to kill you, I can't get information from a corpse." He glared.

"You can't get information from someone who doesn't' know…" He hit her stomach and the girl spit blood. He didn't care that she was a princess, in his eyes she was just another criminal.

Akainu raised his hand once more but the princess glared at him. Her eyes were filled with despise and her demeanor became cold and intimidating, he had seen that in other members of royalty. A tyrannical princess was hiding beneath the compassionate girl everyone knew, and it made its appearance when she could not stand more pain. "Kill me while you can… because I will make your life miserable when I get out of here." She hissed. "That document that 'suspends' my royal privileges will be useless once I'm declared innocent and I will regain my authority as a Princess. Remember my words, you will pay for this offence. You will beg to die once I'm done with you."

"I'd love to see that." He slapped her so hard that she fell.

"I may not be physically strong but I'll destroy you on my own way. A princess' grudge is not to be taken lightly." She touched her itchy face.

Hina entered the room with the doctor and did everything in her power to delay the interrogation. Akainu was going overboard with the issue and she was having her doubts on the authenticity of the Gorosei's document. Sakasuki had been requesting that document since he got the title of Fleet Admiral and every time he had left empty handed, what would be different this time? Alabasta was in good standing with the Celestial Dragons and the Gorosei had more important Issues to deal with, such as Monkey D. Dragon and the Revolutionaries.

Kuzan had been waiting for Vivi to be released, he didn't move an inch after talking to Cobra. How was he supposed to tell him that his daughter was being tortured like a criminal? Well, she had ties with pirates and she knew that this could happen if she was busted.

The King arrived and Kuzan had to tell him every detail, form the escape of the pirates to the Gorosei's Document. The sole image of Vivi being in pain and in danger of dying made him tremble but he stood up as the ruler of a Kingdom, he could not afford to look weak. As for Vivi, he respected her decision of turning herself in to prevent more chaos, it hurt him but she trusted the princess' judgment.

"Your Majesty, forgive me for not protecting the Princess." Kuzan kneeled, that was the protocol to ask for a Royal's pardon. "I failed you… I will take my punishment the moment you command my execution."

"Nonsense. Akainu's actions are justified by the Gorosei, there was no way you could oppose him without becoming a traitor. Even I can't protect my daughter now… we just have to wait. That document… I should have been informed beforehand but I cannot call Mariejois and complain." He clenched his fists.

"We are powerless against a plain sheet of paper." Kuzan commented.

"She will make it out of this problem…" Cobra ended his statement when he saw Tashigi exit the battleship. She looked distressed, something he didn't expect to see. The girl explained the situation to the King, who thanked her with sincerity.

"Before I go I need to know something…" She turned to Kuzan. "Did Mr. Sengoku, Mr. Garp and you leave the marines because of the irregularities?" She covered her mouth, regretting she even said that in front of the King, who had all the reason in the world to hate the marines.

"I left because I had no choice… I will not take orders from an idiot like Akainu. Garp and Sengoku have their own reasons but I'm guessing it's because they are disappointed of the organization. I know I am."

"This is too much… I know Mr. Smoker is not contempt with the way things are going lately, the Fleet Admiral takes everything to the extreme, death is the punishment for small crimes and civilians are punished for mere suppositions, but he doesn't resign because if all the good marines leave no one will protect the innocent." Tashigi snapped at the tall man, explaining the Justice she developed in the last two years.

"You are a better person than I am, now go save Vivi." Kuzan winked, he was really proud of Smoker for having such a good subordinate. The girl blushed and ran towards the city, where she would call the Casino, as Hina instructed her.

"I remember her, that girl faced Nico Robin to protect me and led the marines to help the Straw Hats during the skirmish at Alubarna." Cobra recalled with fondness.

Hina observed Vivi. The poor girl had burns one her arms, red marks on her face, blood coming out of her mouth, and puffy eyes. She was a brave princess who cried of anger and frustration but not for pain, if she was the one directing the interrogation she would declare her innocent even though two years ago she heard her talk to the Straw Hats. "If we ever see each other again would you still call me your friend?" The words echoed in Hina's head. She was stopped by Bentham but she was able to hear all the speech, almost everyone heard it but only a few people realized she was talking to the pirates, and even so no one could prove it. That could have been fatal for her but the pirates turned their back on her. "After going through all this pain she still denies their ties, I believe her." Hina told Akainu but he ignored her, throwing another buckle of cold water. Of course, she would need more than that to end the interrogation. Vivi coughed and closed her eyes, the man asked again and she whispered something he didn't like so the torture began again.

Hours later Tashigi showed up panting and sweating but with a smile. She worked really hard to gather information and ended up with more than she expected. "The Straw Hats came to Alabasta for the Hawk Casino. The Straw Hats stole several millions of beli worth in treasure. The Cat-Burglar took jewels and wallets from the gamblers, golden decorations of the casino and…" She stopped to see Vivi's wide eyes. "They stole the giant hawk's precious stones. The other major crime is that they stole the black pearls that were cultivated on a building near the sea, the one you destroyed, sir. The owner says that the pearls disappeared today, before your arrival."

Akainu could not debate with Tashigi. At the beginning of the New Era several pirates tried to invade Alabasta just for that golden statue but the black pearls were even more valuable, no wonder why the princess was so crushed by the news. The Fleet Admiral gritted his teeth in defeat, he could not push his luck with the Gorosei's Document since it was a fake, and even though few people knew how it looked like Cobra was not an idiot and he would realize that something was wrong.

"The Princess Nefertari Vivi is declared innocent, the interrogation process is over and the Gorosei's Document has lost its validity." Akainu said following the protocol, he had a frustrated expression and hated Vivi's relieved face.

To Be Continued

Excuses so you won't kill me:

The first time I write this chapter I ended up deleting it, it was too mean, so I ended up with a softer version… I still don't like the idea of Akainu torturing Vivi, but that was in "The Outline" so I had to go along with it.

You'll soon know more about Hina and Akainu's "Agreement".

Tashigi is my hero :D

"The Princess' Grudge"… can't say anything yet, but women are scary.

I just noticed myself, but the first six chapters were like phase one, before the timeskip. The following six were the straw hats on Alabasta, and the last six… you'll see.

As I said before, this chapter marks the beginning of phase three, the last part of the story.

**saveme57:** I'm so sorry, I don't mean to torture you. I hope the end of the story will make you feel better. :D

**Mikila94:** Totally, he is pretty dense but I think he is adorable. ^_^ and thanks for letting me know about Sakazuki.

**Son of Whitebeard**: Exactly, and now he does this to Vivi. T_T Unforgivable.


	15. Decisions of the Royals

Ace's Second Chance 10

Enjoy this chapter too :D

Decisions of the Royals

Vivi took a deep breath, then she covered her eyes to process everything that happened to her in the last several hours. The torture was over and she couldn't wait to be liberated but something was bothering her, the people of Alabasta would sure despise her for being associated with pirates, her father would be disappointed of her and her voice would be taken as a joke at the Reverie. "Why would they listen to a princess who was treated as a criminal?" She sobbed, earning confused looks from everyone.

Hina approached the girl to direct her to the exit but she refused her help. "You are free to go once the medics threat your wounds."

"No! As the Princess of this land I command you to leave this room and cut the surveillance so I can make myself look presentable and I want a desert gown to hide the damage you've done to my body." Vivi glared at Akainu. "Once I'm done I will exit this ship without your help, since I've had enough of you. And I don't want this issue to be leaked to the press, otherwise I'll be doomed at the Reverie." She frowned as everyone left taking the snail transmitters from the walls. Tashigi gave her the clothes she requested and followed Hina to the exit.

Vivi turned to the walls and looked for the famous sea-stone that neglected Devil Fruit powers. The girl recognized the material because she had seen it when Crocodile trapped Luffy on a cage and because Kuzan put handcuffs on Ace to make him less dependable of his logia powers. After searching frantically Vivi found some tools that she hid under her new pink desert gown. The girl did not expect to steal sea-stone but it was a tempting opportunity that she could not let pass.

The Princess of Alabasta exited the interrogation room and ignored the marines around her, she was too focused on appearing strong for her people, even though they probably hated her for bringing disgrace to the kingdom. Akainu was standing in front of her, they glared at each other until Tashigi tried to help the princess to walk but she shook her head. "Captain, please let me keep the little dignity I have left, I will return to my kingdom by myself." Vivi said and started to walk. Lucky for her no one touched her or they would realize she was stealing sea-stone items.

Vivi stood on the deck of the marines' ship, the light hurt her eyes but she could bear it, as she could stand the pain on her body. The people had gathered at the beach and were angry, they were shouting and raising their fists. Akainu did not seem amused but Hina was taken aback, the citizens of Alabasta were angry at the marines. Vivi almost cried of relief when she realized she had her people's support and she went on until her feet touched the sand. "I guess keeping the issue as a secret is not an option." She thought. The King approached her and explained that some people witnessed what happened at the beach and summoned a crowd to ask for her release.

"Fleet Admiral Akainu, you are not welcomed anymore. I request that you leave as soon as possible." The King tried to disguise his anger and act as formal as he could but it was difficult to see the man who tortured his daughter and fight the urge to kill him.

Akainu towered over Cobra. "I'm afraid that cannot happen, your majesty. I'm after the Straw Hat Pirates and since they were last seen here I must keep the island under observation." Akainu clenched his fists. He hated that someone had more authority than him.

"Know your place, Marine. An order from the King is absolute and without the Gorosei's document you have no authority over Royalty." Vivi hissed.

"You can observe Sandy Island from your ship." Cobra said coldly. "I command you to leave." He crossed his arms and Akainu gritted his teeth but complied. The marines retired and so did the citizens, after an hour the beach was empty.

Cobra, Vivi, Igaram and Terracota entered a carriage to go to Alubarna, followed by Kohza and the Guardians. The woman comforted the princess while she described what happened in the ship but she surprised everyone when she showed them the sea-stone tools, then she asked Igaram to send them to the Straw Hats. "I will feel better if they have something to protect themselves against logia types." She yawned and fell asleep on Terracota's lap, ignoring how much her body hurt. The king looked at the Princess, he seemed so frail and even after going through a nightmare all she could think of was her pirate friends' wellbeing. He sighed. "During the civil war, before I learned that Crocodile was behind it, I came up with a solution for the problem but I needed Vivi and Kohza for that." He said.

"You don't mean that, your majesty." Igaram gasped. "Why would you bring it up again?" The king told the army commander about his idea when the war ended.

"Because it's time for that solution. I've made the decision for Vivi's sake." He sighed. "Tell Kohza I want to see him as soon as he gets to the castle, he has a key role in this." Cobra said and Igaram nodded.

The night fell on Alubarna and Vivi woke up, she went to her mirror and studied the bruises and the bandages, obviously the doctors had healed her while she was unconscious. She was glad everything was over and she wondered what were her friends doing. "They should be setting sail by now." She sighed. "Enjoy the New World for me." She saw her desert gown on a chair. She forgot about it at the beach but Kohza recovered it, then she remembered that Ace slipped something in a pocked. "I love you Ace." Vivi laughed when she unfolded the peace of paper and saw an autographed poster of Soul King.

"Vivi, the King wants to talk to you." Terracota called the girl and directed her to her father's chambers. She was a little nervous about his reaction.

The girl saw Kuzan standing outside the huge wooden doors, he seemed absent. His only reaction was to nod when he saw Vivi and pat her shoulder as if something horrible was waiting for her. "It's for the sake of the country and for her, will you do it?" The king was yelling, suddenly Kohza opened the doors in order to leave but froze at the sight of Vivi. The Princess looked at both men with uncertainty and sat in front of Cobra, then Kohza did the same.

Kuzan closed the doors and Terracota waited for the Princess for about two hours before she heard a voice. The King's chambers were designed to be silent and keep the issues discussed as a secret, but someone yelling could be heard very clearly. "Are you doing this because I disappointed you?" Vivi was crushed but the King didn't answer so she opened the doors to leave. "Vivi, I won't agree to this unless you do." Kohza was taking her side as always. "I wouldn't want anyone else." she nodded and exited the room.

"Did she have a say on this?" Kohza gritted his teeth as Cobra shook his head.

"Neither do you. I'll go to Mariejois in the morning. The relevant parties need to know about this, so once I settle all the issues with those men you will make the announcement here." Cobra explained and Kohza stood up ready to leave.

The Straw Hats arrived at the Clumsy Hot-Spring Island with the help of Gedatsu. The journey took just a few hours and the pirates were restocking their supplies. Sanji and Chopper took care of the food and medicine. Usopp and Franky bought cola and other things they needed for the Sunny. Luffy kept looking for Golden Mask since there was nothing for him to do. Brook was harassing Robin but she restrained him with her extra limbs. Gedatsu and Nami were discussing the fastest routes to get to Sabaody Archipelago. Ace was helping Zoro to move some boxes around, but he felt like something was wrong and he wanted to be sure that Vivi was unharmed. The image of Akainu attacking them despite having the princess on board made him uneasy.

"Mr. Ace, Miss Wednesday is fine. If something bad happened to her we will know it by tomorrow. The murder of a Princess is always the first thing on the news." Robin gave him and Zoro a glass of water, both thanked her and paused their work.

"Stop that, it isn't funny." The swordsman muttered.

"She's too creepy." Ace dropped a sweat. "Thanks, that's reassuring."

Hina stared at the small object she was holding, she could not believe that a small red pill could cause her so much trouble, but it was developed by Vegapunk so it could only bring success or fatal consequences for his lab rats. The woman massaged her temples, she didn't have a choice, taking that drug was a strict order from Akainu.

"Hina hates that bastard." She recalled bitterly that she was about to lose her position when Bonney escaped but Akainu allowed her to remain as captain as long as she obeyed his every order. Those orders included to use her vacations to research villages supposedly related to the Straw Hats, assist in Vegapunk's sea-stone and devil fruits research, and investigate every single rumor of Luffy and Ace, among others. Of course the pink haired woman rejected the proposition but Akainu made a threat she could not ignore. "Very well, your subordinates will pay for their mistake with their lives. Send them to my office before you sign your resignation." His words echoed in Hina's mind. She was fond of her pair of idiots so she agreed to the Fleet Admiral's conditions.

Hina was putting the pill on her mouth when Tashigi stormed in her cabin. "Vice-Admiral, I request permission to talk freely." The blue haired girl gasped for air.

"Granted." HIna put the pill aside. "What is it?"

"How did you know about the Casino?" Tashigi sat in front of the Vice-Admiral.

"At the beginning of the New Era several pirates targeted Alabasta for the golden Hawk at the Casino and the Straw Hats would not postpone their journey to the New World just to make a small move… not after being inactive for two years." Hina explained and Tashigi nodded. "Call it a hunch if you wish. That aside there's something you must know." Hina decided to trust her fellow marine with her thoughts on Akainu.

By morning the pirates were ready to set sail but Gedatsu asked them to stay the rest of the day on the Spa and they agreed. Usopp approached Ace and told him that he was going to fix his tattoo so he got to work. "I appreciate it, that Jolly Roger is my pride and all I have left from Pops." The sniper grinned and gave Ace thumbs up.

"Everyone, I have good news." Nami squeaked. Zoro shuddered at her mood since nothing good could come if that mischievous woman was so happy. "We will enter the New World as rich pirates. The treasure we have on board is worth at least two times our total bounties." She sighed and had the symbol of beli on her eyes.

"Wow, that's a lot of food." Luffy drooled.

"I hope you didn't get it at Vivi's expense." Zoro frowned, since stealing from a friend, or in this case a friend's kingdom, was low.

"Of course not, I stole every single jewel and Beli from Crocodile's casino and he owes us all that and more for the troubles he gave us." She made a fist.

"I believe Vivi mentioned she was running the casino and that she used all the profit to help the people of Yuba and all the victims of Crocodile." Ace tried to remember the exact moment the princess mentioned that.

"I might have missed that part." The redhead smiled nervously. "Anyway, I also obtained some beautiful and rare black pearls." The beli symbol appeared again.

"I'm sure those are for the Celestial Dragons." Ace said and told everyone that the King gained the favor of the despicable nobles by giving Saint Shalulia extremely expensive presents, so the benefits Alabasta has vary from higher status among kingdoms to the pardon of certain actions. Ace gave them the example of Wapol, who raised from the ashes and became the King of Dark Drum Kingdom after gaining the favor of the World Nobles.

"Even though I hate them, I must admit that having them on your side is pretty clever. If the marines discover that Vivi was hiding you she may be spared thanks to those presents." Nami sighed.

"In that case, the only gift to save Vivi would be my head." Ace laughed.

"Don't move, my master piece will be completed soon." Usopp yelled.

"Hey, bird guy." Luffy waved to the sky when Pell circled the area. The zoan type made an elegant landing and smiled at the crew. "How's Vivi?" Nami went to hide.

"She is ok, thank you for asking." Pell's face saddened for a second but then went back to normal, only Robin and Ace noticed. "The Princess asked me to deliver these presents for you. She really enjoyed her time with all of you and she will miss you so much." He put a small bag on the ground and knelt to reveal its content. "Some knives, knucklers and nets, she hopes these will be useful in the New World…" He was interrupted by Luffy touching the tools and stumbling. "All these are made of Sea-stone."

"Vivi always thinks of everything, but isn't it too hard to obtain that material? Few people besides the Marines are able to put their hands on it." Robin inquired.

"Vivi, my love, can do anything… she's the best." Sanji did his funny dance.

"Well, I guess I'll bid you farewell. Have a pleasant journey." Pell nodded and transformed. The guardian was starting to fly when Chopper came in a hurry.

"Everyone, you'll never believe this." The doctor was crying. "Vivi… something happened to her." He waved at them with a newspaper.

"Luffy, get a hold of Pell." Ace yelled. "I knew something was wrong." Pell tried to fly faster but Luffy's arm caught up with him. Once the zoan type was on the ground all the pirates surrounded him. Chopper told them that he went to look for Golden Mask but that he found Gedatsu in shock, then he saw the Newspaper and read about Vivi's arrest and mistreatment by the marines. "Please explain this." Ace frowned to Pell.

The Guardian of Alabasta's words hit the Straw Hats like knives. Their friend was being tortured while they were preparing to set sail. Pell explained that Akainu managed to get a document signed by the Gorosei, which allowed him to interrogate the princess on the pirates whereabouts, not complying with that request would be considered treason and a sign of rebellion to the World Government. Then he told them that Captain Tashigi discovered that the pirates were on Alabasta to steal the precious stones from the golden Hawk and the rare black pearls. "The Princess was released after that and she is recovering quickly, she didn't want you to know but the newspapers got ahead of us." Pell shook his head. "In any case, the princess wishes you a safe journey and she wants you to keep the treasure you took because it saved her life and she owed you a billion beli for the first deal you made." The guardian vowed and flew away, leaving the pirates with their rage and guilt.

"What will be your next move?" Gedatsu approached the group.

"Isn't it obvious?" Luffy clenched his fists and glanced at his crew.

"We're going to kill Akainu." Ace said through his teeth.

To Be Continued

Excuses so you won't kill me:

Awww Vivi is so sweet, isn't she?

An autographed poster of Soul King, Ace is the best. XD

I always thought Hina was fond of her pair of idiots, why else would she keep them? XD

Cobra's 'solution' is not what you're thinking.


	16. Revenge

Ace's Second Chance 11

Happy Sunday :D enjoy these two chapters.

Revenge

The Marines set sail at night, there was nothing left to do in Alabasta. Akainu had already risked more than he could lose when he tortured the Princess, he was expecting to obtain a confession and justify his actions but the girl never gave in. The Fleet Admiral clenched his fists at the memory of Vivi threatening him.

"Sir, King Cobra headed out this morning. Hina suspects he will go to Mariejois and complain about the mistreatment of his daughter." Hina found Akainu on deck.

"He won't, an order from the Gorosei allowed me to interrogate the Princess. Arguing would be foolish and Cobra is a wise man." Akainu gritted his teeth. In reality he feared that the King would comment on the Issue, which would reveal that the Gorosei never signed the document.

"Hina apologizes for forgetting such an important detail." The Vice-Admiral closed her eyes to think. "She is impressed because you obtained a document of that importance." The woman needed to extend their conversation to allow Tashigi to look for said document. At Hina's cabin, the older woman confessed her agreement with Sakazuki and voiced her doubts about the authenticity of the Gorosei's document, so they decided to investigate it. If Hina's intuition was right she would be free of Akainu, but if she was wrong she would continue to serve the marines as if nothing happened.

"Apology accepted Vice-Admiral." Akainu turned to her. "Did you get the chance to test Dr. Vegapunk's drug?" The man narrowed his eyes as the woman shook her head. "I am being too indulgent with you, don't try my patience." He growled.

The Straw Hats were not far away from the marines. Robin made eyes and ears appear all over the enemy ship to gain intelligence on the enemy and the information she obtained was priceless.

"I'm going to kick their asses for hurting Vivi." Luffy was yelling and the only reason that prevented him from going straight to Akainu was that Zoro, Sanji and Chopper were restraining him. Suddenly Nami hit him in the head.

"Quit that already, I'm angry too but we must learn all we can before the fight. Once we know everything about our enemies we can develop a plan and 'kick their asses', you get it?" The navigator was annoyed.

"We can sink Doberman, Dalmatian and Akainu's ship and at least the Devil fruit users will die." Robin touched her chin with her index finger. "Zoro and I can kill the marines that survive." The woman said and the swordsman nodded.

"Killing?" Nami and Usopp turned green. "We haven't even put a foot on the New World and we are already preparing to fight the Fleet Admiral." Both pirates hugged, sharing the fear they felt.

"You don't have to go." Fire Fist glared at them but then apologized. Luffy stared at Whitebeard's jolly-roger on Ace's back and then smiled. "Yea, I also feel like myself again." He said understanding that Luffy was glad he had his tattoo fixed.

When the marine ships were on sight Robin took a deep breath in order to explain the plan. "This is what we will do…" Robin started but Luffy got free of his friends and stretched to reach the closest ship, he entered Third Gear and enhanced it with Haki, surprisingly his skin turned dark and shiny. "We let Luffy go on a rampage…" She continued when Ace could not hold it anymore and directed his powerful fire fist towards the second ship, once the flames were at their limit he used Haki to elongate them, turning them blue, and follow them to the vessel. Once there, the whitebeard pirate started the explosions. "And then we let Ace go berserk…" The archeologist sighed and her eye twitched when she saw Zoro and Sanji moving. "If someone interrupts me again I'll break your backbone." She whispered and everyone sat at her feet to listen carefully. "Good, after those two create enough destruction we will jump to Akainu's ship, and take down the marines, the Vice-admirals are on board so we must defeat them. I have a personal business to attend, the rest of you try not to die and hope that Luffy and Ace comeback before Akainu decides to fight. Good luck." Robin smiled and disappeared on a whirlpool of rose petals.

"Are we allowed to move now?" Zoro looked around while Chopper sobbed telling how scary Robin was. "Let's go." The green haired man said and the pirates traveled to the marine ship on a small boat Franky improvised.

Kohza went to visit Vivi, who was really sad, and tried to cheer her up. None of them imagined that the pirates were fighting the marines at the coast in order to avenge the princess. "Vivi, I'm sorry." He said after staring at the girl for endless seconds. "I don't want to be king, and I don't want you and the King to leave Alabasta."

"Don't be sorry, it was not your fault." She gave him a bright smile. "Father planned this to end the civil war, but back then he needed us to agree to his idea. You, as the rebel leader, and I, as the next queen. The rebels didn't want my father as king anymore and he was willing to end our dynasty, if I was ok with that." The girl laughed. "And my answer was no, until I found out you would be the next ruler. No one loves Alabasta more like you do, I would leave in peace. Then Igaram came up with information of Baroque Works and Father's plan was annulated." She sighed. "It would be as if you had succeeded in overthrowing father, but I'm ok with that because it is for the sake of our people."

"Vivi, I told you I won't do this if you say no." The blond hugged her, he felt her pain and wanted to make it go away. "I have direct communication with the King, you just have to say it and I will try to stop him."

"You have my full support. There is no one better than you for the job and I will be able to travel with the Straw Hats, I know it's too late now but I will go to the New World and find them." She tried to laugh. "The only reason I reacted badly was because father thinks I'm a failure… why else would he take that decision if the country is not in crisis?"

"You can't fool me." Kohza hugged her tightly. "I know you want to be queen because you love the Kindgom, you've worked so hard for the people's wellbeing and you will not be in peace if someone else is appointed to rule them. You will never forgive yourself if you leave because you love Alabasta more than you love..." The blond bit his tongue, he said too much and he didn't want to make Vivi feel worse.

"That's different." The girl looked towards the window, she knew that her friend's last word was 'Ace', but she wasn't mad at him, that was out of discussion… but the things he said before did have an effect on her. "I guess you are right…" The girl sighed and was interrupted by Igaram, who stormed in her room.

"Princess, I ask for forgiveness." The commander vowed as low as he could. "I only wanted to protect you, I forbade Pell to come and talk to you and I cut all communications with Gedatsu… I didn't want them to tell you that the Straw Hats are still here and that they plan to fight the marines for all the things that they did to you." The old man kept crying and vowing.

"What made you change your mind?" Kohza raised an eyebrow.

"My wife." The commander shivered as the deadly glare of the head of staff pierced him. Kohza dropped a sweat and turned to Vivi but she was already at the window with her peacock slashers and a blue desert gown.

The former rebel looked at the girl jump and ran towards the window to see that she didn't kill herself. He sighed as he saw her ride Carue away, that duck seemed to be always in the right place at the right time, and Kuzan was following her.

"Princess, do you believe in love at first sight or do you want me to pass again?" The former Admiral yelled. He did not support the path of piracy but he was there to fight his sworn enemy, Akainu. "Pass again but don't stop." The girl laughed.

"What was I right about, the Queen thing or the Ace thing?" The blonde thought when he recalled their conversation.

Robin appeared on deck of the third ship and made her way to the cabins, she tried to stay hidden but the unlucky ones who saw her got their necks broken. The woman memorized Akainu's office and if what she heard from Hina was true, she could give the Fleet Admiral a hell of a bad time, than made her smile.

Zoro and Sanji smiled evilly to the poor marines who stared at them with wide, frightened eyes. The swordsman drew his three swords and cut through the group of enemies, at the end everyone around Zoro was unconscious, The green haired man grinned at Sanji, he showed him the middle finger and started to kick his own group of enemies. The cook was infuriated and the footmark on the faces of the marines was a proof of that. At the end, Zoro and Sanji defeated the same amount of men, that draw made them fight each other.

Nami did her best to stay out of the marines' sight but it was difficult due to her revealing clothes so she produced rain and electrocuted them afterwards. Yet it was not enough, more marines approached and she had to create a small storm to blow them away. Usopp was having fun, the sniper's spiky plants kept the marines in one place and his dials allowed him to throw fire from his hands. Brook laughed and made the atmosphere cold and gloomy, his soul wondered around his enemies and made them faint of fear. Franky went to look for the engine room to destroy it. Chopper transformed to his kung fu point to send the marines crashing against each other, then he switched to guard point and smashed them like a bouncing ball.

Hina and Akainu were at the latter's cabin, still discussing Vegapunk's drug when they heard the commotion. "It's too unstable and the side effects can be fatal. "The Vice-Admiral tried to ignore it. "That's why you are testing it." Akainu answered as he always did. "There are several prisoner to experiment on, why Hina?" The pink haired woman hissed. "We can't give power to the prisoners, it will be counterproductive." He growled, the signal for Hina to stop the discussion. "What the Hell is going on out there?" The Fleet Admiral pushed Hina away from the door and exited the cabin just to find rose petals falling to his feet. "Changing the subject, there is more paperwork you must complete, just formalities after using the Gorosei's Document, Hina could do it for you." She offered. "I'll get to it now, and pretending to be nice won't spare you from taking the drug." He smashed the door and went to his office. Hina exited after him and went to the deck, wondering what was happening.

"Hina, the Straw Hats are here." Doberman narrowed his eyes. "I'll take down Roronoa and Humming Brook." He eyed Zoro and drew his sword. The musician and the green haired man took the challenge and the battle begun. None of them were willing to lose to another swordsman.

Hina sighed and ran into the 'pet' of the pirates, who was surrounded by a large group of marines. "You should be ashamed of yourselves, this cute creature presents no danger, focus on the others." Her eye twitched and the marines looked to the floor asking for forgiveness. "Hina won't hurt you." She lifted Chopper.

"Pirates, surrender at once." Dalmatian growled and charged at Nami, she used her Sorcery Clima Tact to block him and run away. Usopp witnessed everything and was determined to help Nami until the Vice-Admiral bared his fangs at him, seconds later he passed the navigator. "You're such a man." Nami frowned.

Sanji, as Robin, separated from the group to ensure the safety of the crew. The cook knew that the marines would not hesitate to call for back up, even though the Fleet Admiral was with them, so he went to destroy the communication room. "Maybe I'll be lucky enough to see my dear Hina and Tashigi..." His nose started to bleed. "Damn Okamas, now I can't even have naughty thoughts about girls without being interrupted by my nosebleeds." He suddenly surrounded his body in flames.

Franky was on his way to the engine room when he saw flames at the end of the hallway, he raised an eyebrow and kept walking. Once he arrived to his destination he made a huge grin.

A knife passed by Robin's nose and got stuck on the wall. "Where do you think you're going?" Tashigi yelled, she was still enraged by her previous defeat. "Nowhere in particular, I'm looking for a certain document." The archeologist laughed, unlike Hina, Tashigi was no threat. "I was wondering if you had any information on a document supposedly signed by the Gorosei. My informant told me that Akainu is recurring to shameful methods to make his will, faking signatures for example." Robin judged the young marine's reaction and realized that she was winning her over. After all, Tashigi was still naïve and the archeologist was an experienced liar. "Have any of your superiors mention their distrust towards the Fleet Admiral?" That did it, Tashigi was in her hands.

"I have more important business to attend to, you waste your time trying to turn me against my superior." Tashigi bit her lips to avoid sharing her doubts with the enemy.

"But I didn't do anything, you are already against him." Robin laughed and disappeared. Robin appeared in the next hall and followed Tashigi closely, she noticed her hands clenching on a piece of paper and shaking in rage. Doubtlessly the marine had found the document and felt betrayed by the organization she was so loyal to.

"The Demon Child, I wonder who I will find next." Akainu's voice made Robin turned around slowly, as she was ready to face the marine, Sanji grabbed her hand and speeded up as much as he could. Franky appeared from a door behind them and the trio managed to exit the hallway before a great amount of lava did. "Bastard, you even kill your own allies." The cook hissed at the sight of marines being burned out.

On deck the battles were intense. The Straw Hats managed to reduce the marines' numbers in half by attacking the lower ranks while trying to defeat the Vice-Admirals. Zoro and Brook were evenly matched with Doberman. Usopp used Dalmatian's restless attacks to dispose of the marines nearby, Nami created fog and illusion so the men would attack each other. Everyone was doing a great job, even Chopper kept Hina entertained by posing as a cute pet.

"Why are the pirates still alive?" Akainu growled, he was doing annoying paperwork when the unusual activity on deck caught his attention, then he saw Robin and he smirked, the pirates went to him on their own.

The Straw Hats cursed under their breath since they expected the Captain and Ace to fight the biggest menace, for they did not stand a chance. The huge man's presence intimidated everyone, the marines stepped aside and the pirates stood still, scattered at the ship. Akainu commanded his subordinates to arrest them.

"We rather die than be arrested." Zoro smirked and his friends nodded in agreement "Then suit yourselves." Akainu glared at them and prepared to execute them. Suddenly Tashigi frustrated his attack.

"Fleet Admiral Akainu, you are accused of falsifying the signatures of the Gorosei to accomplish the torture of a member of a Royal Family. Such crime will bring severe consequences upon you, so turn yourself in to avoid further complications to your case." The blue haired woman tried to disguise her anger.

"Bitch, you bare your fangs at your superior." Akainu hissed and tried to strike Tashigi, lucky for her Zoro was quick enough to save her. The young marine's heartbeats increased at the thought of her death and she could hardly realize she was alive and next to her sworn enemy. "This organization doesn't need weaklings like you, and all my actions are justified. Those stupid old men don't know anything so I took action on my own…" The Fleet Admiral yelled like a mad man and then formed a sinister smirk. "And now they pirates I've been looking for show up on their own after I had a 'little talk' with the princess. Coincidence? I don't think so." He laughed and shot his lava towards Luffy and Ace who appeared on deck after destroying the ships they boarded before.

Two powerful shields of Haki dissipated the lava to the sea. The vapor created after the attack made the brothers look more intimidating. "It's time for me to have a 'little talk' with you." Ace said through gritted teeth, his anger had no precedent. Akainu dared to hurt his princess and he would never forgive that, he was determined to make the marine pay for every tear she shed.

To Be Continued

Told you, Cobra's solution was not what you were thinking XD

The battle took place in the part of the sea that belongs to Alabasta.

Hina was captivated by Chopper's cuteness, who wouldn't?

Robin is scary T^T

I hope you liked the fight, I did my best since I love the Straw Hats team work and I struggled with Akainu's power (it's super destructive and really sucky to go against it XD)

Saveme57: I know, Vivi rocks. I'm using a lot of sea-stone to neglect Akainu's power… it's just too hard to go against lava (I hate Akainu).

Frankman364: That man will suffer a lot, trust me. (evil smile)

Mikila94: No, that was not it… when I read it the last time before publishing it I was like 'wow, that does seem like a marriage arrangement.'

Thanks guys for the reviews, they made my day. Next Wednesday I'll upload the last two chapters.


	17. The Agonizing Beast

Ace's Second Chance 9

Enjoy the second chapter of the day.

The Agonizing Beast

Akainu was cornered. Straw Hat Luffy and Fire Fist Ace were finally in front of him after two years, he wanted to destroy them but at that moment his priority was Tashigi, that woman knew too much and because of her his title was in danger. The Marine remained motionless, a single movement could be fatal, if he attacked the pirates Tashigi would go away and report to Mariejois, and if he attacked the girl, the pirates would strike him. It was a lose-lose situation.

Tashigi caught her breath and looked at Zoro. "Roronoa, thank you… but that doesn't change anything between us." She blushed and the pirate grinned.

Hina gave Chopper to a marine and walked towards Akainu. "This is a severe accusation, sir, and the Vice-Admirals have the duty to escort you to a cabin and make sure you remain there until we reach Mariejois." The woman was anxious to get rid of her fellow Devil Fruit User.

"However, we are dealing with two Supernovas and a Whitebeard Commander. We can make an exemption until the pirates are arrested." Doberman said with a bored expression. "Then we will continue with the protocol."

"I won't allow that." Sakazuki growled and decided that everyone would die to keep his secret. The man turned to lava and flooded the deck of the ship. The agonizing scream of the marines pierced Luffy's ears, the young captain clenched his fists and entered second gear. He disappeared in an instant and reappeared in front of Akainu to punch him in the face.

"How can you do that to your allies?" Luffy yelled as his fist sunk in the marine's face, but Akainu did not react, he raised his hand and grabbed the pirate's neck. "You are not the only one who can use Haki." Akainu laughed before Luffy used his superhuman strength to get free. At the end of the short encounter both men glared at each other.

Nami and Usopp used rain and water dials respectively to slow down the lava and guide the marines to safety, they were not on the same side but Akainu was their only enemy at the moment. "We need more time." The redhead yelled so someone could distract the Fleet Admiral while the marines were escaping in the boats.

Sakazuki narrowed his eyes and looked in the crowd for Tashigi, but she was not around so he attacked at random. This time Ace created the shield to protect them. "Why are you doing this, Fire Fist?" Hina stared at him trying to decipher his intentions. "That bastard was supposed to be the only one to get killed." Ace hissed.

"You need to leave." Zoro was losing his patience with Tashigi, the woman insisted to stay and fight. "Akainu is targeting you for the document, you'll get killed if you stay." The swordsman said.

"Then I will give it to someone else. I must fight for the honor of the marines." She was determined to stay. "I don't expect you to understand, but I owe everything I am to this organization and I can't stand to see it become a group of mercenaries." She snapped at Zoro.

"Do whatever you want." The pirate rolled his eyes. "But stay with me 'cause I won't let you get killed." He posed his eyes on Akainu, then Tashigi blushed. Soon Zoro realized his own words and got nervous. "You can't die because you have that important document." He blushed and both looked away.

Dalmatian finished the evacuation process, he did not have time to fight pirates when his leader was losing his mind. Just before leaving he turned to Doberman who was staring at Fire Fist. "I know your loyalty is with the Fleet Admiral." Dalmatian crossed his arms. "I'll report his actions to headquarters." The swordsman sighed and left with the remaining marines.

"Straw Hats… and Ace. This is an issue among the marines, if you leave now we will overlook your actions." The pink haired woman frowned.

"I have my own issues with Akainu, he did the worst thing someone can do to a man." Ace growled, he was doing everything in his power to avoid attacking Sakazuki, since the marines were evacuating. "He did two things I can't forgive." Luffy yelled.

"Fine, you'll be arrested when all this is over." Hina cracked her knuckles.

"Bring it on." The brothers smirked.

Ace looked around to see who was still on board. "Luffy and Hina are next to me, Sanji is in front of Nami and Robin, Dalmatian is behind Usopp and Brook, Zoro and Tashigi are flirting at the left of Franky and Chopper. Good, it's gonna get interesting." He said and jumped towards Akainu. His signature move, the Fire Fist, turned blue and landed at the marine's feet. Ace kept throwing punches that scratched his enemy but nothing very effective. The pirate's strength was good, the problem was Akainu's speed. Ace used his left hand to push himself and kick the marine in the face, however, the older man moved backwards. The pirate was on the air, so he used both hands to send two columns of fire towards Akainu.

"Coward, are you planning to hide on the flames?" The marine observed the flames trying to predict the pirate's next move but nothing happened, suddenly the fire disappeared and Luffy charged at him with a gigantic black hand. The impact sent Akainu against the mast. "You will regret this, but I'll deal with you later." Sakazuki growled and ignored the pirates to attack the escape boats, Franky's boat too.

"Damn you." Hina hissed and threw cages at her superior, while he was evading them the woman rushed to kick him in the stomach. Due to the size of the man Hina was forced to back off and prepare to kick again. Finally Vegapunk's inventions were good for something. Dalmatian joined the fight and barked to distract the Fleet Admiral, then he scratched his face. Both Vice-Admirals used Soru to attack. Akainu used a lava fist to get rid of Hina, since she wasn't able to use Haki that would finish her off. Dalmatian read Akainu's intentions so he made a Haki shield to allow Hina to take out a dagger and aim at Sakazuki's neck. The fleet admiral acknowledged the Vice-Admirals' team work, so he evaded the knife to kick Hina, she used Tekkai and Dalmatian attacked from behind, Akainu ignored the zoan and grabbed the woman by the arm to throw her away, then as Dalmatian landed Akainu kicked him to the sea. Sanji jumped to catch the pink haired woman and Robin created a web of hands to help Dalmatian. Everyone's attention was on the defeated Vice-Admirals.

Hina took out Vegapunk's pills and threw them on the sea while no one was watching, if they were effective Akainu would be unstoppable.

"Now that they are distracted..." Akainu thought and looked for Tashigi, once he saw her, a wave of lava stroke the place where she was. Zoro did not have time to escape so he covered the girl with his body, he forgot that Tashigi was able to create a Haki shield.

Ace saw an opening while Akainu was aiming for Tashigi. The pirate created shiny spheres of fire and directed them to the tallest man. Suddenly he remembered that Robin had a gun with sea-stone bullets. "Why isn't she using them?" He thought and as if the archeologist could read his mind she smiled and nodded. "Women." He sighed, at the same time the spheres exploded and Akainu was engulfed on flames.

Hina stood up once more and charged at her superior. She took out a knife once she was close to him and buried it on his shoulder, the only reaction of the man was a laugh. "I bet you wish you had taken Vegapunk's drug." He grabbed Hina by the neck and smashed her against a wall. The pressure of his hand increased and the woman couldn't breathe anymore, using her remaining strength she took out another knife to stab his hand. "Do it and your subordinates will pay the consequences." He smirked. Hina froze and then passed out for the lack of oxygen. Dalmatian rushed to recover his comrade before lava could turn her to ashes but he received some damage, so he was forced to abandon the battle.

"Chopper, take care of them." Luffy said and entered second gear. The rubber man stretched his arms to the sea and made them return with twice their strength to hit Akainu, the tall men received the strike and hit Luffy with his elbow. Ace jumped to the scene and kicked Akainu in the neck.

The Straw Hats saw his captain fighting with all his might for the sake of Vivi and the marines that were betrayed by their boss. Sanji took a small atomizer from his pocket and sprayed a substance on his shoes. "Where did you get that?" Tashigi asked. The sea-stone dust was in the hands of pirates. Sanji smiled, his excursion to Hina's cabin was not in vain. The cook rushed to the battle, his powerful kicks damaged Akainu's left leg, then he jumper and aimed for the head, however the marine used a lava wave to get rid of Sanji. Robin was ready to lift her blond friend before the lava touched him. "You almost turn to ashes, I wonder if it would be too painful to be burned alive." She inquired and Sanji braced himself. The archeologist had limbs ready in case Akainu decided to defend himself with lava, she would remove her friends at once.

"Zoro, you idiot, what do you think you're doing?" Nami yelled and smiled mischievously. "You should be helping Luffy, not taking care of the marine… Could it be?" She giggled much to Zoro's annoyance. "Shut it, witch." He said through gritted teeth. Suddenly a weird mass of something rose from the floor and attacked Tashigi. Zoro managed to stop the tentacle but his sword was beyond repair.

"I entrust you with my sea-stone sword. Take care of it." Tashigi said.

"Nami, create a storm. Usopp, put electric dials all over the floor. Franky… I need great amounts of water." Robin commanded. "Yes ma'am." The pirates complied. "Chopper, can you please wear this?" The archeologist smiled and gave the doctor a pair of tiny boxing globes. Chopper nodded and she sprayed sea-stone dust on them. The pirates' eyes twitched, Robin was only nice with the Zoan.

Akainu realized that his attacks would not be effective if he was desperate to kill them so he decided to calm down. His new strategy consisted in using CP9 techniques and Haki, and avoid Zoro's sword, his devil fruit powers had to wait. "Enough of fooling around." He said and disappeared with Soru to strike Sanji in the back, his next target was Ace and finally he smashed Luffy against a cannon. The Fleet Admiral eyed Zoro and evaded a flying slash to his head, suddenly he punched the swordsman so he fell next to Tashigi. The marine woman gasped and used Haki to stop Akainu's feet as it tried to crush Zoro's skull. It gave the pirate enough time to recover and strike back with his new sword.

Ace created some fire balls and scattered around the floor, he eyed Robin, who was pointing a gun at Akaunu's head. "How did she get there?" The Whitebeard Commander asked himself but didn't pay too much attention since the woman pulled the trigger. Sadly, the marine turned around in time to tackle the archeologist. She planned every move, she was the bait, and Brook stabbed the marine with a weird looking sword. It was emanating vapor and glowing. "Can you burn a soul?"

Tashigi noticed Sakazuki's skin get pale, a reaction she had never seen on the intimidating man. Robin disappeared in a whirlpool of rose petals and reappeared next to Luffy. The Captain nodded at something she said and charged at him in Third Gear. Brook retreated and waited for another chance to attack. Luffy's gigantic black arm smashed Akainu, the damage was enough to knock him out and keep the ship afloat.

The Fleet Admiral laid on the wooden floor of his battleship, he was taking a break of the fight and trying to suppress a laugh. "Those brats think they can take me on." He sighed, after a minute of suspense he stood up, eyed Robin and smirked. "The master mind." He laughed and kicked her off the ship using a combination of Soru and Tekkai. Luffy was outraged, no one was allowed to hurt his precious friends. The captain rushed to help Robin and Akainu used the same techniques to strike Luffy with enough power to break the floor. "Idiot, how do you pretend to help my dear Robin if you can't swim?" Sanji cursed and jumped to rescue her friends, however Akainu grabbed the cook by the head and used him as a shield for Zoro's slashes, when the attack was over Akainu threw Sanji against Nami, neither was able to stand anymore. Ace was harder to get, his blue fire fist hit the target, two more did the same but the last one hit Zoro and Tashigi, even though Akainu was slightly injured he didn't stop until Ace was out of energy. "Looks like this battle has come to an end." Akainu was the last man standing. He created a wave of lava to kill everyone on sight.

"No!" Vivi covered her mouth at the sight of her unconscious friends. She had barely made it to the battle ship when she saw Robin falling, Kuzan caught her and she explained everything. The former Admiral and the princess decided that the best option was to rescue her friends and leave as soon as they could but she was sure Kuzan would ignore his own strategy and fight. Vivi noticed the huge amount of lava that was about to finish her friends off and used the only thing she could to stop the massacre. The princess stood up and rushed towards Akainu. "I confess, I'm a Pirate." She yelled.

"This is your fault, if you had turned yourself in since the beginning no one would have died." He growled, putting the blame of his crimes on Vivi. He was ready to kill her.

To Be Continued

Excuses so you won't kill me:

Yey Vivi, she's my hero… and my favorite character, I was so sad when she stayed in Alabasta so I hope she shows up at the Reverie and has a major role. And I was happy that she appeared in several covers even if she wasn't traveling anymore.

It's really difficult to think of a battle with a guy who practically destroys everything he touched so please bear with me XD.

Awww, love is in the air (Tashigi and Zoro) "_**How does he know you love him?"…**_ You give him a sword. ^_^U

The marine that Vivi slapped died on Akainu's attack.


	18. The Princess' Grudge

Ace's Second Chance 10

I upload on Wednesdays until I'm done with the story, then I just want to post everything at once… that's why I uploaded so fast. Enjoy the chapters and Happy Wednesday.

The Princess' Grudge

Vivi showed up just in time to prevent the assassination of her friends. The girl's heart beat faster due to the fear she was experiencing, she knew she was going to die the moment she caught his attention. "It is my fault and I will die to make amendments, my life is not enough but…" She was cut off by Akainu's hand on her neck.

"Vivi" Ace stood up in an attempt to help his princess but he couldn't move an inch since Akainu saw him and tightened his grip. "Let her go, it's me you want."

"I can have both and as long as the marines are dead no one will believe a bunch of pirates and a fallen princess." Akainu growled. "I will personally execute all of you. First Sogeking, the Cat Burglar and Franky, they will be a good opening. Next Humming Brook, as a message to all his fans who dared to defy the Marines at Sabaody. Then the strongest members, Nico Robin, Black Leg and Roronoa. Finally I will put the Captain, the Princess and the Son of the Pirate King in the stage, you will be forced to see this girl and your brother die and then I may allow you to commit suicide or not, I still have to think that through." The Fleet Admiral was delusional, his obsession was out of control.

"Akainu." Vivi paused and Ace was sure that she would say something really smart to get them out of trouble, he noticed she had an idea because she was not biting her lip. "Who will take care of Chopper the pet? And could we listen to Soul King's music before we get executed?" She said. Ace's jaw dropped.

"I may as well kill the raccoon and you'll die without music…" Akainu laughed at the Princess, it was clear that she had accepted her death. He was wrong, the girl raised a small atomizer, a sea-stone dust container given by Robin, and sprayed the marine's face, she fell to the floor and ran towards Ace. "What are you doing here? You were supposed to be safe at your kingdom, now you will be a criminal…" The Whitebeard Pirate started to scold her but she cut him off with a kiss.

Sakazuki threw lava towards them as they were distracted. "Princesses these days… you put so much pride in protecting them so they can marry a Prince and continue the blue blood line and they go and fall in love with a pirate." Kuzan raised an ice wall. Akainu looked around and noticed that no one was on the ship but the four of them. "Damn you and that little bitch. You saved the pirates while she distracted me." He narrowed his eyes dangerously.

"Ace, take care of your majesty I'll deal with him from now on." Kuzan was deadly serious. In the two years that they trained together he never saw that anger in his eyes, only when he talked to him about certain duel in the New World. "Punkhazard." He thought and Vivi prompted him to jump off the ship. They landed on a huge mass of ice, Luffy was ready to jump to battle again, as most of the males. Robin seemed troubled and Vivi knew why, the archeologist was supposed to blow up the ship at Kuzan's request and he would be the bait to make sure Akainu drowned, the former marine didn't accept any other suggestion Robin gave him that involved him not sacrificing himself. The older woman put herself together and trusted that Kuzan would somehow survive, she made an eye appear on the ship to know the exact moment of their comeback.

Kuzan and Sakazuki's devil fruit powers clashed. The Fleet Admiral was weakened, that meant a huge advantage for the former marine but he wanted to fight his sworn enemy fair and square. "What am I thinking? If I don't kill this bastard the princess will be in danger."

"I see you decided to take the pirates' side, how low will you fall?" Akainu clenched his fists. "I should have killed you at Punkhazard." With those words the Fleet Admiral surrounded himself in lava and turned into a wave. Kuzan blocked him with ice and created several pillars to gain altitude, once he was in position he shot a spear. Akainu avoided it by using Soru and kicked the bodyguard to the floor. The intensity of the impact made Robin clench her fists.

"Robin, Akainu has two broken ribs on the right side, his left leg can barely hold him and the wound Brook gave him is bothering him… there are more injuries but those are the ones we should target." The doctor said with a determined look that was really cute and Robin decided to follow her original plan and ignore Kuzan's.

"Franky, get the machine ready. Usopp, prepare to activate all the dials and do it quick because I have another task for you. Nami, I want those clouds ready. Brook, go to a high place and wait for the chance to stab Akainu. Sanji, Luffy and Ace you will join the fight when I say so. Miss Wednesday, use your sedatives. Zoro, Tashigi is fine, focus on the battle." Robin ordered everyone.

Zoro rolled his eye, he was just accommodating the unconscious marines, all of them. Chopper looked at Robin with wondering eyes and the woman nodded, then the doctor ate a rumble ball.

The Straw Hats jumped into the scene. Akainu and Kuzan were staring at each other, ready to resume the battle when they were taken aback by a gigantic monster with black boxing gloves. The pirates formed a circle to show the marine that they were united and that no one would destroy them and that they would face any enemy no matter how strong he was.

The Fleet Admiral saw Robin disappear and knew that the dangerous woman had predicted the outcome of the battle. Vivi started to spin her weapons, immediately she charged at Akainu, the peacock slashers extended and contracted around the tall man, who tried to use his lava to melt the beautiful weapons but they had sea-stone dust. The princess took advantage of her proximity to the marine by throwing a perfume bottle at him, then Ace held her by the waist and took her away from danger.

Zoro was the next, his sword slashed through the marine's chest and then Sanji kicked him in the stomach to increase the broken ribs number. Sakazuki would be able to dodge all the attacks even if his body was moderately injured but for some reason his vision was blurry and his body was slow to react. Chopper started to punch the enemy with ferocious strength, the ship trembled with every blow. Akainu stood up by pure will power and used Tekkai to resist the monster, then he changed to Geppou for the lack of success. Akainu ascended on the air and Vivi realized that the marine would melt the doctor's face. "Mr. Bushido, Sanji..." She said and the boys understood, much to Ace's indignation his princess was sent flying. When Akainu was about to reach Choppers head Vivi restrained his hand with her weapon acting as a whip. The other one went to his neck, sadly Akainu raised his free hand to prevent strangulation. Oddly enough, the hood of the desert gown covered Vivi's face at the moment of the attack.

"That's a new one. You've become really strong." Ace commented and Nami and Robin giggled from afar. "What?" Ace asked annoyed but the girls giggled even more. "What's with all this giggling, sheesh?"

Chopper put his hand so Vivi could land, she let go off her grip of Akainu and the doctor smashed him with his free hand. However the three minutes ended, Chopper went back to his brain point and Vivi found herself on a free fall. Ace was ready to rescue his princess but he was engaged in battle with Akainu. "Luffy, do something." Ace hoped that his brother could save the girl but being Luffy he joined the fight. "Don't worry, I'll help you." The captain glared at the marine and Ace slapped his forehead.

Kuzan was the one to save Vivi, he was his bodyguard after all. Robin reappeared. "The leg, the stomach and the back." She reminded the pirates. "Shall we proceed, everyone?" She turned to Akainu. "If the lava touches you you'll have an agonizing death… try to stay alive." The pirates turned green. The archeologist made a huge hand appear and made the 'thumbs up' signal.

Ace and Luffy eyed Robin, who suddenly appeared between them with a gun, it was certainly creepy that she could just show up anywhere. The woman smirked, as if reading their thoughts, and raised the weapon towards the head of the enemy. "That won't work again, get away." Ace yelled after recognizing the woman's strategy. Akainu laughed and waited for Brook to make his move, once the pirate approached him the marine trapped them, the archeologist disappeared and the musician turned to a pile of bones. The woman reappeared steps away from the logia type and shot three times, surprisingly all the bullets sunk in lava. However, three more gunshots were heard at the distance and the projectiles hit Akainu's back. "The King of Snipers did it again." Usopp shouted, waving with the real sea-stone gun.

"It's time for you to get out of the way." Robin grew hands to push the D carries off the ship. Franky showed up with a hose, the cyborg posed before attacking with a huge quantity of water at extreme pressure. Akainu covered himself the best he could but the seawater was affecting him, taking advantage of the distraction Zoro and Sanji threw a sea-stone net over the Fleet Admiral and an ice-barrier surrounded the battlefield, leaving the pirates out of it. Nami and Usopp's turn to fight arrived, and they were glad that it didn't involve being near the scary marine. The navigator had been working on a black cloud with enormous electric charge and the sniper's dials were also ready, both pirates began the thunder show. Luffy was impressed with all the lights and shiny wall before him. "So cool." He jumped all around the barrier.

"How can he have all that energy?" Vivi sighed. She was exhausted and let her body fall in the ice. Ace approached her and grinned but before they could say something the rest of the pirates collapsed, all the adrenaline from fighting the Fleet Admiral was over, and they could barely stand. "I didn't want anyone to die." She looked at the sea with nostalgia. She sobbed and Ace hugged her and explained that none of the casualties were her fault, that Akainu's fake document started all.

"I guess I'll be able to return to Alabasta." She said after a few minutes. Ace didn't understand her, she wanted to be a pirate but she didn't want to leave her kingdom, yet she risked everything by defying the marines, and now she wanted to go back to be a princess. Women were complicated, Kuzan was right.

"I'll go with whatever you decide." The whitebeard pirate was ok as long as she was happy. "But you are already here and it would be awesome if you could come with me… I mean us." Ace scratched his head, not sure of what to do, he was acting on instinct.

Robin and Nami giggled, despite Ace's annoyed look. "What's with all that giggling?" He asked again. "It's a girl thing." Vivi giggled along. "So, about setting sail?" The logia type continued and Vivi smiled while putting a finger on his lips.

"I'm so jealous… why is Chopper resting on Robin's lap?" Sanji cried. The archeologist was taking care of the reindeer because of the side effects of using the monster point. "Just let it go." Zoro rolled his eyes. Franky was out of cola and Brook laughed with Usopp.

Everyone was happy that their nightmare was over, a huge celebration was on the way. Luffy couldn't wait to eat his fill, Terracota's dishes were awesome. Suddenly Akainu removed the net from his body, the marine was defeated but he would not give up since his title was on the line. "Straw Hat… Fire Fist… I'll kill you." He growled. "And then I will make that bitch suffer." He pointed at the Princess, Ace stood up to finish him off but Vivi stopped him.

"Fleet Admiral, do you remember my words?" She glared at him. "While we were 'talking' I advised you to kill me or else you would face my grudge."

"You didn't do anything… you are a coward that shielded herself with the pirates. Am I wrong?" He laughed with the little strength he had left. "Will you take my life?"

"This was not my doing so I do not intend to take credit for it." She sent a smile to her friends. "And I won't let you die, for the offence to the Royal family of Alabasta demands a greater punishment." Vivi's expression turned deadly as her memories of the torture invaded her mind. "Your actions are unforgivable, therefore you will spend the rest of your life on Impel Down. You will live with the shame of falling from the highest position you ever achieved. From the moment you step on that prison you will be known as the pathetic excuse of a marine, a man who dared to taint the name of the Gorosei to pursue an obsession without fundaments." The princess' words made Akainu want to kill her even more. "I will use all the influence I have with the Celestial Dragons to make sure your permanent stay at Impel Down is worse than hell."

Kuzan felt pity for his enemy, his fate was the worst punishment a high-raked marine could get. Then Vivi's face softened, she was not vengeful… she was a compassionate girl who longed for peace and would forgive that man after some time.

"Princess?" Tashigi woke up. Vivi rushed to the marine and hugged her. "Thank God you are alive, Kuzan noticed an explosion and we rushed to see if you were ok, after all you saved me from Akainu." Vivi lied, though she was indeed worried for Tashigi. "I appreciate your concern, your majesty." The marine smiled and then saw the Fleet Admiral. "I must arrest you, please do not resist anymore." She said and put the sea-stone handcuffs on him.

"You are dead." Sakazuki growled and prepared to attack Tashigi, however Luffy entered Third Gear and sunk Akainu along with most of the ship.

"You piss me off." The Captain frowned after going back to normal.

To Be Continued

Excuses so you won't kill me:

Akainu wasn't killed because he must endure a living hell for all the things he did, killing him would be being too nice to him.

I wrote this before I learned that Zoro and Sanji can use haki, (Robin should be able to use Haki… I suggest we protest XD just kidding.)

Fourth Paragraph… I know it was pretty stupid but I couldn't resist writing it.

When I saw the Straw Hats fighting Oars I loved their teamwork and created the whole battle based on their teamwork.

Chopper resting on Robin's lap was at the end of Fishman Island arc, so cute.

Since Sanji stole the sea-stone dust, he passed it to Robin and she gave it to Vivi when she saw her… that's why Vivi had the atomizer at the beginning and her peacock slashers neglect Akainu's power.

I can't think of anything else I would demand an explanation of if I were a reader XD

Son of Whitebeard: 0_0 why is Vivi going to die?

Frankman364: I got you XD I hope Akainu's punishment is cruel enough.

Saveme57: 0_0 why would I kill the Straw Hats? And Akainu lost his mind XD


	19. Beware the 11 Straw Hats

Ace's Second Chance 10

**Thank you for taking the time to read, review and mark the story as a favorite. Those notifications and comments made me smile. I did everything in my power to make this story interesting so I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

Beware the 11 Straw Hats

Zoro saved Akainu from drowning at Tashigi's request, now the Fleet Admiral was unconscious inside an ice prison. The pirates were catching their breath after a fierce battle and hoping that the New World had more adventures in store for them.

"And he keeps asking weird creatures to be a Straw Hat…" Nami rolled her eyes as Vivi laughed. The navigator was commenting on the unexpected behavior and odd tastes of the captain while they were waiting for Kohza.

"Vivi, this time you must join my crew." Luffy smiled and Nami hit him on the head, because he made Vivi. "Do I count like a weird creature?" she sobbed.

"Your Majesty, your interactions with the pirates would put you in danger but I will overlook them since we are on the same situation. Both of us are grateful to them, which reminds me…" She turned to Zoro. "Roronoa, take good care of my sword, it's the payment for saving my life. I still have a debt with you, though. Two years ago you also saved Vice-Admiral Smoker so I will give you the proper log-pose for the New World." She said and gave him the three bubbled object.

"Thank you and take care." Zoro said avoiding the girl.

"You too, follow the most stable needle." She blushed. "It's the safest route."

"I'll keep it in mind… don't overdue yourself." He scratched his head and saw Nami with the corner of his eye. The redhead was playing with a white heart-shaped cloud and when she noticed him staring at her she crushed it and laughed.

"Witch." Zoro muttered. "Excuse me?" Tashigi yelled outraged. "Not you…" He replied nervously. Tashigi giggled and waved good bye as she saw Doberman coming with a boat to take the survivors to the closest marine base. Thanks to his Haki the swordsman survived the lava attacks and made it to the shore to call for back up. The pirates hid and Tashigi kept their secret.

An hour later Kohza and Pell arrived in a small ship. The former rebel rushed to the Princess. "This is your last chance… call your father and tell him to stop." The blond panted for air, clearly he was stressed out and put a snail phone in front of her.

"What is going on?" Ace noticed Vivi was nervous. She didn't know what to do and it seemed like she didn't want to approach the snail phone.

"My father doesn't think I'm suited to be Queen." She started to explain but Kohza interrupted her. "Hurry, the signal will be lost." He dialed the King's number.

"King Cobra wants to take the throne from Vivi but I know she wants to be Queen, she was born for that and she has put all her life in this kingdom." Kohza explained and Vivi waited for her father to respond. "You've been with her for two years, you can't deny what I'm saying." The blonde told Ace and the pirate nodded. As much as he wanted Vivi to travel with him, he had to admit that the girl was born a princess and her people would always be first in her heart and mind.

"Father, listen to me." Vivi pleaded and the pirates tried to stare at something that wasn't the blue haired girl. "Don't go to Mariejois… I know I'm not ready to rule Alabasta but I can do it, give me time and I will prove I'm a capable leader. Don't take the throne from me." The princess' words echoed in Ace's head, it was final, she would not go with him. "I'll show you I'm not a failure."

"I never believed such a thing, I knew you were not happy in the kingdom so I decided to take the burden of being Queen from you… you would never chose between Alabasta and your friends so I chose for you, I want you to be happy." The snail spoke with Cobra's voice.

"I want to be Queen, just give me a grace period to travel with my friends…" Now the pirates' undivided attention was on the conversation. "It will be the same as when I infiltrated the Baroque Works." She pleaded.

"Even if it breaks my heart that you leave again, I'll allow it." He sighed, admitting his defeat. "However, if you are discovered I'll have to take extreme measures."

"I'll return after Luffy becomes the Pirate King. I will learn everything from the kingdoms around the world, and comeback ready to take the throne." She said with determination.

"I love you, my little princess, take care." The snail cried, the girl replied with tears and the communication ended. The pirates rushed to hug Vivi, it was a really special occasion, the Straw Hats were together once again.

"Wait, where did Carue go? I left him at the beach when I came here." Vivi wouldn't leave without her loyal friend.

"Carue is been on this ship ever since you two split. He somehow managed to get here to wait for you." Pell explained patiently while Vivi hugged the duck.

"He did the same at Whiskey Peak." Vivi laughed.

Everyone boarded the ship that would take them to the Thousand Sunny. Zoro and Ace had a score to settle with Kohza, so a three sided fight took place on deck. Robin, Nami and Vivi had tea and pastries, courtesy of Sanji, and listened to Brook's music. Luffy, Usopp, Copper and Franky acted the battle with Akainu for Pell. Overall, the short journey to the Sunny was Vivi's farewell to her beloved kingdom. She hugged her loyal guardian, childhood friend and bodyguard, and thanked them for everything they did for her but that she would return in no time. Pell advised her to always remember that she was a Princess and act as such. Kohza told her to have fun and think about home every time she could. Kuzan told her that he would be watching her every move and he covered her face with the hood of the blue desert gown. "Don't let anyone see you, wear hoods all the time and avoid the spotlight as much as you can." He patted her head.

"Ok, so you had an accident and broke both legs." Kohza made up an excuse to cover for Vivi's absence. She smiled nervously and hugged him. "Thanks for everything." She winked and boarded the Sunny.

"There goes a pirate ship full of royalty." Pell commented. "The Princess of Alabasta, the future King of the Pirates, Soul King, the King of Snipers… and I guess Ace being the son of the Pirate King makes him the Prince of the Pirates."

"We were right, Vivi did choose a prince." Kohza laughed.

The former admiral laughed and turned his back to his friends while they shared gossips they heard about Golden Mask and the Princess. Some were really crazy and others were pretty close to the reality.

Some days later, Hina entered Impel Down to pay a visit to her former superior. The pink haired woman sat in front of Sakazuki, ignoring the obscene comments of the other inmates. "How are you doing today, sir? I dismissed Princess Vivi's envoy so I can read the newspaper for you." She talked to him in a professional tone.

"The Straw Hats were seen at Sabaody. The pirates had fun at different parts of the archipelago. The Captain, Straw Hat Luffy crashed a restaurant with his brother, the infamous Fire Fist Ace. The rest of the crew kept a low profile but the reporters couldn't help to notice a mysterious crewmember. They assumed it was a woman since she was with the Burglar Cat and the Demon Child, she was also carrying Chopper on her arms. Any ideas, sir?" Hina asked casually. "Look at that, Attach also updated their wanted poster pictures… that man is an enigma, you never know when he will appear, he just shows up with pictures, takes his payment and leaves. He never ever speaks, If only we knew what he knows" The Vice-Admiral extended the paper to the man glaring dangerously at her, he was wearing a muzzle which made him look more sinister.

The pictures were from their encounter at Alabasta. Luffy had a bright smile and wide eyes, it was taken during the "Thunder Show". Zoro had a deadly glare and he was trying to cover someone with dark hair, it was taken the first time Akainu tried to kill Tashigi. Sanji's face was not seen, his hair was wet and covered his eyes and nose. Nami was bending to the camera with a flirty look, obviously she fell for the magazine trick again. Robin was pointing a gun at Akainu but the poster didn't show him. Usopp had a triumphant grin and a hat covering his eyes, the picture was taken after he shot Akainu. Brook's picture was Soul King's poster. Franky was making his 'super' pose and his hair was spiky. Ace had a smug grin and fire all over his arms. Chopper was sleeping on Robin's lap, and the last one was a hooded figure with two chain-like objects, the peacock slashers.

"They called the new one the 'Peacock'. Cute, right? After all, the color of the gown is similar to a peacock's body and the things she carries look like the tail." Hina smirked. "By the way, I wonder if Fire Fist will remain with the Straw Hats for a while or he'll go back to the Whitebeard Pirates as soon as he enters the New World. Anyway, there's also an article about Bonney, looks like she's causing some trouble again, it's all my fault." She pouted. "But I already paid for my mistake, you helped me redeem myself." The woman read some more on the newspaper and then squeaked. "It's a reminder of the mysterious disappearance of Bentham... All those trouble makers, too bad Law is on our side, his stories were amazing." The woman sighed but Domino prompted her to leave since the prisoner was moving his chains in an attempt to kill the Vice-Admiral. "I came to say bye. I'll see you on my next vacations, I'm entering the New World today with Fleet Admiral Kizaru and my pair of idiots… forgive me, those words are taboo. I'm sorry this happened to you, you were just trying to do your job." She shook her head and left with the guard.

"He was awfully quiet. Is something wrong?" The pink haired woman inquired in Sakazuki's odd behavior. "Normally he would call me horrible names."

"Ma'am, the former fleet admiral failed a suicide attempt." Domino informed. "Since he was well restrained, he tried to bite his tongue. Our doctors acted immediately and we were able to save his life."

"That explains the muzzle." Hina sighed. "Don't let him die, the Gorosei want him to pay for stepping on their authority."

Sakazuki glared and struggled to pursue the pink haired woman he hated so much, but he hated Vivi even more, the Princess didn't have enough after his defeat, she made sure that someone would remind him of his failure and keep him updated on the success of his enemies. In few minutes he was forced to calm down because of the punishment inflicted by the new demon guard, Mino-Chihuahua.

"The Princess of Alabasta forgave him for his actions and even hired someone to visit him every week to read him the newspaper." Hina told Kizaru as the elevator took them away from level 6, as the new Fleet Admiral, Borsalino had to make a tour on the prison. "That wouldn't be allowed if she didn't have the favor of the Celestial Dragons."

"Women are scary." Kizaru elongated the last syllable and went to his ship. "All of them say they forgive you but they will make you suffer as much as they can." He said and Hina nodded. "Remind me of lecturing Sentomaru about not angering women."

At Sabaody, Silvers Rayleigh was finishing the coating for the Sunny when the pirates came back from the Amusement Park. Shakki greeted them with drinks and food. "This place is so lively with all of you here." The woman smiled. Nami went to sulk in a corner due to a condition called 'Treasure Withdrawal'. According to Usopp, the navigator gave up on the gold and jewels of Alabasta because she couldn't take money from her dear friend.

"I love it, everything is so bright and crowded." Vivi felt like swooning. "I can't believe I missed this kind of places." She sighed.

"Now you are here and I'll show you the New World as I promised." Ace got close to Vivi, and she gave him puppy eyes.

Nami and Robin giggled and Ace looked at them seriously annoyed, he was ready for answers. The pirates went outside to see the Sunny and Vivi followed them, only Franky stayed behind. "Tell me what's with all that giggling." The Whitebeard pirate threw his arms in frustration.

"It's a girl thing." Nami winked. "Girls giggle at emotional displays, specially the cheesy ones." The navigator squeaked and Ace's eyebrow twitched. Women.

"There is another girl thing you must be aware of, Mr. Ace." Robin's smile became murderous. "If you hurt Miss Wednesday we'll make sure you want to turn yourself to the Marines." The archeologist was serious. Franky noticed the dangerous atmosphere and discretely moved towards the door. Ace gulped, those two were crazy.

"And if we see Vivi crying… Ask Franky what happens." The redhead narrowed her eyes and pointed at Robin who formed an X with her arms and clenched her fists. The poor cyborg burst in tears at the reminder of his pain.

It was official, the powerful Fire Fist Ace was scared of a pair of women. "Do we understand each other, Mr. Ace?" Robin smiled sweetly again and passed by the D carrier, Nami did the same and waited for a nod, then she followed her friend. Ace sighed and composed himself before joining the crew.

"Ace, what took you so long? We are about to cheer for our new adventure." The princess smiled brightly and he returned the gesture.

"All right brats… get strength from your dreams." Rayleigh encouraged them.

"I will be King of the Pirates." Luffy yelled and as the others shared their dreams, Ace realized that his dream was help his little brother to find the One Piece, and kill Blackbeard while he was at it. Vivi wanted to learn from the Kingdoms all over the New World to become a capable Queen. Their dreams would take them to different paths in the future but they would enjoy every single moment they had together and they would certainly find a way to never leave each other's side.

"Forget you are a Princess, live the moment and have no regrets." Ace whispered and lifted his jar of booze. Vivi smiled and stared at the sky, imagining all the amazing adventures she was about to live with the Straw Hats and his beloved Ace.

"I forgot to tell you, Mr. Marco the Phoenix was waiting for you in the New World, you were supposed to meet him in six days after picking up Ace." Vivi gasped.

"Say those things sooner." All the pirates yelled.

The End

Excuses so you won't kill me:

The development of a romance is not my forte… in my mind they fell in love at first sight so I was not able to make it flow in the story. At the end the story was a bout Vivi joining or not the Straw Hats… I hope you like it anyway. :D

My favorite couple (since Ace-Vivi can't happen T_T) is Zoro-Tashigi. There are a lot of rumors and speculations surrounding Tashigi and I'm eager to know the truth. And I can't wait for her to have more interactions with Zoro. XD

I'm sorry for all the times I screwed up, I tried to fix them.

The Peacock is not very original, I really like it though.

Attach the photographer is so funny, but I made him more mysterious. Hope it was a nice change.

I love Kohza because he supports Vivi all the time and knows what she wants before she realizes it. He's like the perfect friend and he is also cute.

I hate Akainu XD I hope he pays 100 times in the Anime for killing Ace. (I wish he was alive, a fan can dream right?)

You know how they say, 'you can't have everything in life'? That kinda sucks so at least Vivi can have everything in this story XD

'**Till next story :D**


	20. Omake

Straw Hats Humiliation Project 9

**Hello readers, I prepared this Omake because I do it every time I finish a multi-chapter story. I hope you like it and I'm sorry for being late. Here are the answers for your questions.**

AnimeXCats333: I'm really glad that you liked it, thanks for the review.

saveme57: Thank you, I loved that part too.

Son of Whitebeard: Sadly Marco isn't coming back, it was just to show how badly Vivi forgets important things.

Frankman364: I'm happy you liked the ending and there won't be a part 2… my sequels suck.

Mikila94: I forgot to add the paragraph about Carue but its fixed now.

LoveAce: I know, I totally loved that couple the first time I saw them together. it's so sad it won't happen.

** Straw Hats Humiliation Project**

The Straw Hats were on their way to Fishman Island when a huge ship caught up with them. The crew went on deck to consider if they were enemies or a neutral party, much to their surprise a familiar red nose man appeared before them. It was Foxy but he was wearing a white wig and sunglasses.

"Greetings travelers. My name is… Yus Lhes." The man tried to trick the Straw Hats but they were smarter than that. Zoro drew his sword while Sanji bent to kick, but Luffy approached Foxy and waved his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Yus Lhes. I'm Luffy, the future King of the pirates, and my crew is trying to reach Fishman Island, so could you please move?" The Rubber-man made his crewmates slap their foreheads.

"But I have a game you must play." Foxy tried to convince Luffy but at the lack of results he used his last resource. "The Price is food." He said rolling his eyes.

"I'll win all the meat, what's the game about?" Luffy turned serious.

"It's a simple race from the east coast to the west coast of an island nearby. I made it, it's called the Yus Lhes' Artificial Island." The Silver Fox grinned while he led the way to said place. Much to the Straw Hat's dismay Luffy was really excited and Chopper joined him in his celebration.

The pirates arrived at the Fake Island, which was a beautiful sight with all its shiny blue trees and a huge white road that cut the island in half. There were also small green houses all over the place, Robin assumed Foxy's crew lived there. The Straw Hats landed and followed Yus Lhes to the start point.

"First of all you must split in two teams." Foxy grinned. He had a plan to defeat Luffy once and for all, the first step would force the Captain to choose the best and segregate the losers. "That will be a huge blow to the trust of the crew and it will make Straw Hat feel guilty." The short man could barely hold his laugh.

"Nice, I pick first." Ace yelled, he didn't know the Silver Fox so he joined the fun. "I want Vivi." He winked. "Nami, Robin and Chopper."

"If you allow me Luffy I want to be the commentator of the game." Brook asked politely and the Captain nodded with a smile.

"Then I want Zoro, Sanji, Usopp and Franky." Luffy pointed them out.

"That's not how it was supposed to go." Foxy got depressed. "Anyway, this is the start line. I want you to run with all your power to the finish line. However, in your way you will find some buildings with different contests and three judges. The first person to cross the line will give the victory to their team." Foxy got carried away and took a gun out of nowhere, then he fired. "You can begin now."

The Straw Hats started to run, suddenly other people with desert gowns joined the race. "By the way, my own team is also competing." Foxy laughed, forgetting that Brook was with him, at the end the musician laughed too, just to go with the flow.

The race reached five minutes and sanji was in the head of the group, followed closely by a hooded guy and Chopper on his full deer form. Zoro was the last because he missed the road and went to the blue forest. "Nami, Robin and Vivi look absolutely gorgeous running, but my gentleman nose tells me that there are other three beauties in this place... but I don't have a nose." Brook laughed.

With no apparent reason Luffy stopped running and smelled the air, he smiled and stretched to reach the competitors and surpass Sanji, Ace followed closely and they entered a green building with a hamburger spectacular. Also a hooded runner caught up with them, when she removed her gown everyone was shocked to see Jewelry Bonney. "This is an eating contest, the more you eat the faster you get back in the race." Foxy laughed. Vivi and Sanji approached the building too. "Only one pirate per team." He scolded the two.

"Don't worry, we'll just make sure they don't waste food." Vivi smiled.

The contest started, huge amounts of pork, chicken and beef dished were brought by waiters and they were devoured in an instant. After endless minutes of seeing Ace, Luffy and Bonney eat, the table was clean and each contestant burped, much to Vivi's disgust. In a dark table Garp laughed and raised a cardboard with a 10, 10, 10. Hina shook her head and showed 0, 0, 0. Finally Aokiji gave all 10s. "The contest is over, you may go back to the race." Foxy was annoyed.

"What about the judges and the points?" Brook inquired.

"They're just there for show, to stall the leading group. The points aren't worth anything, besides the judges are all idiots." The Silver Fox explained.

"I see, even though I have no eyes. Yohohoho." At this both commentators laughed, they were getting along just fine.

Sanji was on the lead again but his perverted instincts made him slow down to see Nami running. His nose bleed a little but nothing dangerous. In the meantime Chopper, the fast hooded person and Usopp reached the second building. "This is an imitation contest." Foxy announced as the sniper grinned, it was his forte, yet his smile vanished when he saw Mr. 2 Bon Kurei. "I want to see Zoro."

Usopp pretended to be asleep, woke up and asked where he was. That earned him a 7 from all the judges. Bentham transformed into Zoro and made a ballet step, the judges gave him also a 7. Finally Chopper grabbed a wood stick and played it as a sword. The judges went mad for the cuteness and the males gave him 10s, yet Hina drew an infinite symbol. "The contest is over, go back to the race." Foxy yawned.

"Sanji is once again the first of the group… but oh no, he also reached the building so he can't go on. We also have Beautiful Robin and… Boa Hancock?" Brook was really happy, the Warlord was a delight. "This is a beauty contest, that means you have to wear a bikini for the judges." Foxy's nose dropped some blood.

Sanji put on the two-piece swimming suit, because it was worth it if he got to see the women wearing it, but to his surprise and frustration Hancock refused to wear one since Luffy wasn't around and Robin happened to be a clone that vanished. In consequence the judges had to declare Sanji as the new Miss Yus Lhes and take a picture to remember that day. "Just continue running." Foxy and Brook were disappointed.

Carue appeared out of the blue and picked Vivi up, they were soon on the lead. Franky built a motorcycle and followed closely. Yet Trafalgar Law was already in the green building. The Question Stall, according to the spectacular. By this point of the race the pirates had figured out that the contest were a waste of time so they decided to lose to get back in the race. "Dear pirates, do you see this heart diagram? Well, I want you to explain it to me." Foxy grinned.

Franky made his super pose and said that it was a mechanical piece that could substitute a human heart, but that he would never use it because that would be too cold. Vivi smiled and said that the blue tubes were carriers of bad feelings and the red ones were all about love. Law rolled his eyes and gave a long explanation of arteries, veins, the chambers, the flow of the blood and how to recognize a healthy heart from a sick one. At the end everyone was asleep. "Vivi's words touched my heart, but I don't have a heart so she wins." Brook laughed. "This is stupid, let us go back to the race." Law growled.

The finish line was visible, and somehow Zoro walked in the middle of the road. Nam miraculously got the first place and a hooded person tripped near the navigator. Suddenly a labyrinth rose from the earth, trapping the runners. "I suppose the contestants must find the exit. Yohoho Zoro is doomed." Brook and Foxy laughed.

"Shut up, I'll cut you in half." The swordsman yelled. Then Tashigi removed her desert gown in order to win the contest, however Nami was already climbing the walls. "What are you doing here?" Zoro asked.

"Beating you in this game." She winked and got lost in the maze. Zoro was annoyed, so he drew his sword and cut the walls to clear a path, yet he did it in the wrong direction and ended up in the left side of the road. "The winner is Tashigi, because she's a marine and everyone loves her." Aokiji said.

"This is an all-out race." Foxy was really excited this time. "The burglar cat is using Chopper to get on the lead, Usopp is firing weird plants to trap the enemy, Vivi is ridding Carue, Ace is using flames to impulse him, Robin is using extra arms to make the enemies fall, Law used his Room to switch places with the others and there is a lot of cheating. I can't believe this." Foxy gasped.

"Sanji is catching up with everyone, he'll be the winner… wait, Luffy entered Second Gear he is head to head with his own teammate. Ace is also joining the trio but the girls have the upper hand because Bonney and Hancock use their Devil Fruit powers to get rid of the competition." Brook gasped. "Chopper is a baby rain deer and it's adorable, and Franky is a statue."

Nami turned around. "It's time to use my secret weapon."

"It will work on everyone but Luffy." Robin smiled making Tashigi trip.

"If Usopp is around Luffy is not a problem." Vivi winked.

"Happiness Punch." Nami stopped and removed her bikini top. Sanji passed out with a smile, Usopp and Luffy froze, Law felt sorry for the other males and was astonished at Luffy's reaction. Hancock was furious. "How can my beloved Luffy react that way with you and not even flinch at the sight of me?"

"Don't feel bad Miss Hancock, Luffy is only imitating Usopp. Try your charms on them and turn them to stone to confirm my words." Vivi suggested and kept running.

"Nice one, Miss Wednesday." Robin winked.

Hancock smiled seductively and the males drooled. "Mero Mero Mellow." Everyone but Luffy turned to stone, but didn't move since he was still copying his long nose friend's actions. Even Ace fell for Hancock's charm, which made Vivi glare at the statue. "hump" Vivi kept running. Law managed to switch places with Bonney, at the same time the girl made him a child. Vivi, Nami and Robin were about to finish the race when Bon Kurei caught up with them, Carue was scared of the Okama so he ran far away from the race. Nami ran as fast as she could and yet Bentham surpassed her with no effort. Robin was another story, she used her extra hands to pull her to the finish line at the same time as Mr. 2, and Zoro once again appeared on the end with no clue of how he got there.

"This was an amazing race… we have a three sided tie. This had never happened before, I'm astonished, speechless… it's amazing. " Foxy yelled, forgetting his plan to defeat Luffy for a moment. "I'm useless." Foxy got depressed.

"Yes, we know. You said it when we met you." Brook clapped.

The nigh fell and everyone celebrated the victory with food and booze. Hancock and Bonney turned everyone back to normal and they bid farewell so they could return to their occupations. Mr. 2 gave a speech on friendship witch made everyone cry their hearts out. Law just vanished. Tashigi went away with Aokiji, Hina and Garp. And the Straw Hats resumed their journey to enter the New World.

"Here I was trying to defeat them once and for all but they had to distract me and make me fail once more. Straw Hats… I'll get you some day." Foxy yelled with all his might.

Some miles away Ace was on deck with all the crew. "What was that sound?" He looked in the direction of the fake island, yet he didn't have a chance to react since Vivi pushed him overboard. "Maybe Miss Hancock will save you."

"Ace, what did you do to Vivi?" Luffy asked from the ship.

**The End**


End file.
